Family members of slain ANC struggle hero and acting judge Patrick Maqubela contacted Justice Minister Jeff Radebe two weeks ago and asked him to intervene after they failed to get his widow, Thandi Maqubela, removed as an executor of his multimillion-rand estate.
The Mail & Guardian can reveal that Thandi Maqubela was appointed an executor of her husband’s estate, despite the family’s written objections to the master of the high court’s office. His wife was arrested last week, nine months after the acting judge’s seemingly violent death.
“We tried to stop her becoming an executor of his estate, but there was nothing we could do. We sent a letter to the master’s office, asking for her to be removed, but it never happened,” said a family member, who asked not to be named. “We don’t know how much money has been spent.”
Family and friends told the M&G that the value of Maqubela’s estate is between R15million and R20million. He is also said to have taken out a life insurance policy worth about R20million. Maqubela had a host of directorships in private companies and the couple was married in community of property.
The M&G understands that a member of Maqubela’s family contacted Radebe two weeks ago to ask him for help in removing Thandi Maqubela as executor.
When the M&G asked Radebe’s spokesman, Tlali Tlali, about this, he replied: “As the master’s office resides in the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, members of the public may approach our offices for assistance on matters that fall within scope of any of the branches in the department.
“In this case, members of the Maqubela family approached us on a matter that relates to the estate of the late judge Maqubela. Confidential deliberations took place between the family members and the master’s office concerned.”
But it seems that Maqubela’s high-level political connections, which include Radebe and former prosecutions chief Bulelani Ngcuka, were unable to assist the family in having his widow removed as executor.
A former Umkhonto weSizwe commander, Maqubela’s testimony at the 2003 Hefer commission denied claims that Ngcuka had betrayed him to the security police. The commission investigated allegations that Ngcuka had been an apartheid spy.
Lester Basson, acting chief master of the High Court of South Africa, said that in the normal course of events the surviving spouse is appointed executor of an estate.
“In the judge’s case, Mrs Maqubela was appointed executrix of her husband’s estate,” he said. “Of course, a new fact arose — where the executrix was arrested for murder of the deceased.”
Because Thandi Maqubela has not yet been tried, she would have to give an undertaking that she would act in the interests of the other beneficiaries, said Basson, and this would have to be underwritten by an insurance company. If she broke her undertaking or was found guilty, she would be removed as executrix of the estate, he said.
This week 52-year-old Thandi appeared in court in Cape Town, charged with the murder of her husband. The widow walked up the stairs from the holding cells in an elegant black outfit and dark sunglasses. She stood in the dock with her co-accused, Vela Mabena (46), who was casually dressed.
The M&G has established that Mabena and Thandi Maqubela were both independent distributors of Forever Living Products, a network marketing company. They were introduced to the company through a British distributor, confirmed Rick Beeton, country manager for the company.
“We distribute a wide range of products, including beauty and weight products, and cosmetics,” Beeton told the M&G.
After her husband’s death, his widow went on an extended overseas trip, while a police investigation led by top police investigator Reynold Talmakkies continued.
The mystery deepened when inconsistencies in the police version of Maqubela’s death emerged. Maqubela was found in his luxury Cape Town flat in Bantry Bay in June last year and police first said he had died of a “severe heart attack”. Fellow acting judge Jake Maloi found the body of his friend. “I found him lying face up, with his arms by his side, a sheet tucked over him and with a pillow on top of his face,” said Maloi. “There was blood on the pillow and sheets. Who looks like that if they’ve had a heart attack?”
The police investigation changed three days later to one of murder. Police have not yet stated how Maqubela died. Family members say they have been told the autopsy reports were inconclusive, but evidence gathered at the scene pointed to suffocation.
Although the couple had been living in different cities, Thandi Maqubela was staying with her husband during the week of his death.
Family and friends told the M&G that Patrick Maqubela had quit his partnership in a private law firm and moved to Cape Town while his wife continued to live in Sandton. They said the judge had a new girlfriend who made him happy and that he planned to divorce his wife.