DROPPING LAWYERS SPED UP DISTRIBUTION OF FATHER’S ESTATE – HLOBI

MBABANE – Former Cabinet Minister Hlobisile Ndlovu says her family stopped involving attorneys in her late father’s estate and now the distribution of assets is about 97 per cent complete.

Prominent Pigg’s Peak businessman Calvin Ndlovu died on February 17, 2001 and in 23 years, his estate has not been wound up. Calvin’s wife, Nellie, died before the about E30 million estate was wound up. Hlobisile yesterday appeared before the Judicial Commission of Inquiry, which is investigating alleged misconduct in the Office of the Master of the High Court.

According to Hlobisile, things have been moving smoothly ever since the family resolved to no longer involve attorneys in the estate and the assets distribution is almost complete. Some of Calvin’s properties were buildings that house Shoprite-U-Save and/or OK Bazaars, Pigg’s Peak Supermarket, Pep Stores and Dunns (later Furniture Warehouse) and Ellerines and Shemeleza Butchery as well as Killarney Flats. Hlobisile said the family resolved to stop using attorneys and come together to deal with the issues they were faced with.

Contention

She said the bone of contention was rentals. She stated that after the executor, Knox Mshumayeli Nxumalo, died last year, the family approached the master of the High Court for the appointment of another attorney to assume the duties of an executor in the estate. Hlobisile told the commission that the Master of the High Court, Phumzile Thomo, advised that they could do without an attorney and appoint an executor among themselves.

She said they thought that the duties of an executor could be carried out by an attorney, considering the size of her father’s estate. “The family met and appointed me as executrix in September 2023,” she said. The then executor, Nxumalo, had died two months earlier.

“We are now 97 per cent done with the distribution of the estates assets. We had to take a big decision that whatever is questionable, in terms of rentals, we seek advice from the master,” she added. She made an example that there was a property which generated rentals amounting to E70 000 and E80 000 per month and in the past 20 plus years, they expected the amount to have accumulated to about E20 million.

Hlobisile said they found only E2.5 million and the decision they made was that they would not search for the balance but move on. “We said: ‘Just accept and don’t go to court’.”  The issue of the residue of rentals, according to Hlobisile, was a thorny issue. For instance, she said if one inherited a property, the question was, did it mean that the money it generated in rentals in the 23 years in which the estate was not wound up, belonged to that individual?
Hlobisile said the master advised that it formed part of the residue and who is to benefit from it.

She said ever since the family adopted the approach as advised by the master to deal with the estate on their own, there had never been any opposition. “Where we see that we have been short-changed, we leave it as it is and move on to other things,” said the executor. She also mentioned that tenants such as Shoprite and OK Furnitures decided not to deposit rentals with the executor but in a trust account over the years. She further said some beneficiaries were affected by the long period that the estate has not been wound up.

Beneficiaries

According to Hlobisile, some of the beneficiaries forfeited their inheritance, because of a clause in the Will that said if one fell pregnant outside of marriage, they would forfeit their inheritance. She pointed out that in the 24 years in which the estate was not wound up, some beneficiaries had children and had to forfeit their inheritance. She said had the estate been wound up within two years of the death of her father, the beneficiaries would not have forfeited their inherited properties.

“They lost those properties and suddenly became residue,” said the commission. On another note, Hlobisile said they did not only resolve to stop involving attorneys in matters of the estate, they also dropped matters pending in court in relation to the estate. In one of the matters that involved Calvin’s estate, the master of the High Court wanted to have direct supervision of monies belonging to the estate of the late businessman.

In her report filed at the High Court, the Master of the High Court, Thomo, recommended that the estate monies be kept in the Guardian Fund at the Central Bank, pending the outcome of the application filed by the now late Ndlovu’s wife, Nellie.

Executor

According to the wife of the late Calvin, the then executor, Nxumalo, allegedly had a free hand and had not been called to account by the master, whose duty was to hold the latter to account for the administration and distribution of the estate. The alleged dwindling of the estate’s bank account and non-distribution of same resulted in Nellie and the children of the late businessman taking Nxumalo to court.

Among other orders, the aggrieved beneficiaries wanted the court to direct Nxumalo to render an account in respect of all the estate monies deposited into the latter’s bank account or any bank account. Nxumalo disputed the allegations made against him. At the time of Nxumalo’s death, according to Hlobisile, the family had a good relationship with him, such that they were shocked when they heard about his death.

Members of the Commission of Inquiry are Judge Majahenkhaba Dlamini (Chairperson), Judge President Sifiso Nsibande, Judge Mzwandile Fakudze, Judge Maxine Langwenya and Judge Lorraine Hlophe.

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