South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg A woman who wanted to hold on to her home after it was sold approached the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg. File Photo:IOL
Image: File/IOL
A Thembisa woman fighting for a house with a new buyer was dismissed by the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg and told that her claim lies with her ex-husband.
The ex-husband was married before and his first wife died in 2007.
In 2010, he married his now ex-wife but their marriage failed and they got divorced. The court ordered a division of the joint estate.
Following the divorce, the husband in his capacity as the executor in the estate of his former late wife, sold the Thembisa property to the first buyer, Mashala Joseph Lapane and Moloko Mashala in 2018.
In 2020, the pair sold the house to Sizeka Silvia Dlepu who now owns the property and is making bond payments at Nedbank.
Dlepu approached the Thembisa Magistrate Court to have the woman evicted, however, the woman had already approached the high court so that she could be declared the owner of the property.
In her application, she argued that when she divorced her husband, the court ordered a division of a joint estate and after that, they sourced a valuation of the property so that when sold, she gets her share.
Judge Motsamai Makume said that there was proof that the house belonged to the late wife when she acquired the property in 2003 before she got married in 2005.
He said the ex-wife failed to provide information showing that the late wife and her ex-husband were ever married in community of property.
“In the result, the property never became part of any joint estate. It at all times remained the sole asset of the deceased,’’ said judge Makume.
He said if the ex-wife wants to rely on the order that was made during their divorce, her claim lies against her ex-husband for payment of her share.
“In the result this application must fail...the application is dismissed,’’ said judge Makume.
sinenhlanhla.masilela@iol.co.za
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