Who needs to visit the big city, or be a dedicated nosehound, to catch the whiff of a juicy fraud? Right here, hidden away in this narrow country life, scribbling away for my small-town rag, Guardian Yase Mpumalanga (formerly the Umjindi Guardian) fraud stories come my way.
Of late I have been knee-deep investigating something that may well be the most disturbing – and, it seems, all too common – acts of fraud plaguing the nation. I’m talking about the defrauding of intestate estates (estates left without wills). A truly big problem, it turns out, in local black society.
The scenario goes like this: The deceased, usually a man, dies without leaving a will; what he does leave behind is a common law wife and their children – but, nearly always, he also leaves behind a lover, and sometimes more than one. And this is where the problem begins.
No sooner is the man’s death announced, than the lover swoops in like a vulture, and has herself appointed administrator of the man’s estate. To secure this appointment, the lover convinces the magistrate’s court that she is the legal or “rightful” spouse of the deceased. This she does by first providing a fake lobola certificate, in most cases secured from the local chief’s office, and then by under-representing the value of the estate. (If an estate is worth R50,000 or less, the appointment may be made by the administrator at the magistrate’s court; if it exceeds that it must be referred to the Master of the High Court – and it’s easier to get away with fraudulent lies at a magistrate’s court.)
But the most shocking aspect of all is that faked lobola certificates are often backed up by various members of the deceased’s own family, who give testimony to the intestate estate administrator at the magistrate’s court, verifying the certificate’s legitimacy.
Now why would someone’s own family do this? Sad to say, it’s due to anything from discontent with, or even hatred of, the legitimate customary life, or, as in most cases, promises by the lover of a share of the spoils (pension or insurance payouts).
By the time the legitimate customary wife and her children get to court to begin dealing with their husband’s or father’s estate, they are dumbfounded, devastated and utterly confused to hear that an appointment has already been made – and the lover is now in charge.
Once a lover is appointed she wastes no time in swooping down on the estate’s assets, taking everything from cars to every cent the deceased had, either in savings or due from funeral policies, pension schemes or life insurance policies. This leaves the “real” or deserving beneficiaries, the customary wife and her children, with absolutely nothing.
My findings – backed by the testimonies of a string of victimised customary wives and their kids – show that these “lovers” are merciless, ensuring that the estate is totally cleaned out. So much so that even small children can be left absolutely penniless.
The courts seem powerless to protect the victims. According to the Barberton magistrate’s court, in appointing the estate administrator they rely on the documentation (lobola certificate) presented by the claimant (lover) and the testimony of family members. They do not have mechanisms in place to check whether the claims are bogus or not.
The whole thing first came to my attention when I investigated one such case, which implicated Umjindi municipality (Barberton) manager Sibongile Mnisi in allegedly assisting the lover, Cynthia Mabuza, of a municipality employee, Thomas Makwakwa, in being appointed administrator of his estate.
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| Dudu Shongwe with children Vusi (left) and Busi (right) |
Makwakwa’s wife, Dudu Shongwe, died from complications of Aids two days after I interviewed her. Her last words during the interview were: “If that woman (Mnisi) and that girl (Mabuza) had not taken all the money Thomas left for me and the kids I would have been able to go to the clinic to get those pills for Aids.”
I did say the thing is disturbing.
Publishing this case in my little rag has brought forth quite a few claims of intestate estate fraud victimisation, just in my little Barberton. If that’s the situation way out here, what is it like in cut-throat places like Soweto? Disturbing thought. | 
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