“Due to a lot of discrepancies between the schedule that was annextured to the papers, l cannot make a decision at this moment,” these were the direct words by Acting Judge Henk Roelofse in the Mpumalanga Division of the High Court on Tuesday September 23.

The judge was presiding over an urgent application made by Tamara Silinda and her mom, Funi Ruth (Emunha) Silinda.
The two are, respectively, the biological daughter and former wife of the late former deputy president David Dabede Mabuza, who was commonly known as DD and affectionately called the “Cat.”

Tamara has submitted an application before the court for it to interdict Alexander Forbes Financial Services from releasing her dad’s R44.7 million to his nominated beneficiary, his widow, Nonhlahla Patience Mnisi.

ALSO READ: Mpumalanga High Court postpones judgment in the late DD Mabuza’s life annuity dispute

This is despite that according to the nomination form held by Alexander Forbes, Mabuza nominated Mnisi as the sole beneficiary.

Tamara also prays that the court directs the financial services company to pay her interim maintenance, pending the finalization of the matter.

She wants R40 thousand per month towards her well-being and R127 thousand for her tuition at the Cape Town University where she is a first-year student

“The dependants have to be considered. In other words there must be an investigation by the fund to look at who are the dependants and at the end of the day consider those dependants,” Advocate DJ Sibuyi, for the applicants, argued in court.

He said the fact that Mnisi was the sole beneficiary was just a wish by Mabuza but that case studies have previously shown that such a wish was just but a guide which did not mean the exclusion of deceased’s dependants.

Sibuyi, who was assisted by Advocate Buyile Mdluli, submitted that Alexander Forbes’ own policy directives supported his arguments.

ALSO READ: KMI Airport could be renamed after David “DD” Mabuza and the KNP could be changed to Skukuza National Park

Advocate Victor Kruger, representing Mnisi, concurred that she was the sole beneficiary in the nomination and argued that the applicants were misdirected because the money was a retirement fund and therefore not forming part of Mabuza’s estate.

But Sibuyi insisted this was the only money available for all Mabuza’s dependants, regardless of the nomination.

ALSO READ: DD Mabuza’s life payout heavily contested in the Mpumalanga Division of the High Court

He insisted that Alexander Forbes’ own sets of rules called for it to search for the dependants of a deceased person before paying the money.

Sibuyi told the court that what Alexander Forbes intended doing was to stab itself in the foot and was contradicting itself.
“What the comapany is doing simply means that it cannot be trusted with our money,” said Sibuyi.

Judge Roelofse seemed to be in support of Mabuza’s arguments.

“I’ve closely considered all the documents that were presented to me, especially a policy schedule which constitutes the police between the late Mabuza and Alexander Forbes, and I’ve looked at the policy schedule that forms part of the papers before me,” the judge said.

The judge ordered Alexander Forbes to clarify its policies before he could give a ruling in the matter.

“Unfortunately, there is a discrepancy between what the schedule says and the policy document. Normally l would take the policy as the guiding contract between the parties because after all, that is the way that they have contracted it, but due to a lot of discrepancies between the schedule that was annextured to the papers, l cannot make a decision at this moment,” added the judge.

He then directed Alexander Forbes to submit a detailed affidavit that would explain the discrepancies he referred to.

The affidavit was to be submitted by Friday September 26.

ALSO READ: DD Mabuza’s R44.7m insurance payout tied up in Mpumalanga High Court

The Judge also ordered Advocates Sibuyi and Mdluli to submit their answering affidavits by Monday September 29.

The court is subsequently expected to deliver its ruling into the matter today, Tuesday September 30.
This is a developing story and more information will be published as it comes forth.