The South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg dismissed a Thembisa woman’s claim for a house with a new buyer, citing her ex-husband’s ownership.
The ex-husband was previously married; his first wife died in 2007.
In 2010, he married his now-ex-wife, but their marriage collapsed and they divorced. The court ordered a partition of the joint estate.
Following the divorce, the husband, as executor of his former late wife’s estate, sold the Thembisa property to the first buyers, Mashala Joseph Lapane and Moloko Mashala, in 2018.
In 2020, the couple sold the house to Sizeka Silvia Dlepu, who now owns it and makes bond payments through Nedbank.
Dlepu approached the Thembisa Magistrate Court to have the woman evicted, but the woman had previously approached the high court to be proclaimed the property’s owner.
In her application, she said that when she divorced her husband, the court ordered a partition of a joint estate, and then they obtained a valuation of the property so that when it was sold, she received her portion.
Judge Motsamai Makume stated that there was documentation that the late wife owned the house when she purchased it in 2003, prior to her marriage in 2005.
He claimed the ex-wife failed to offer evidence that the late woman and her ex-husband were ever married in community of property.
“As a result, the property never formed part of any joint estate. “It has always been the deceased’s sole asset,” remarked Judge Makume.
He stated that if the ex-wife wishes to rely on the order entered into during their divorce, she must file a claim against her ex-husband to receive her part.
“As a result, this application must fail, and it is dismissed,” ruled Judge Makume.
