Legendary actor Sello Maake kaNcube’s legal bid to force his ex-wife Palesa Mboweni to pay half of his debts of close to a million rands, and also get an equal share of her Gauteng property was dismissed with costs by the Johannesburg Regional Court on Monday.
Some of the debts Maake kaNcube wanted Mboweni to pay included a R200 000 tax bill and a R300 000 Eskom bill for his Dube home in Soweto.
The couple officially divorced on April 21, 2017 when the Pretoria High Court granted them a decree of divorce after their union disintegrated after he accused her of, among others, changing, without his consent, the surname of her children from the previous relationship to his so that they could benefit financially from his legacy.
Now, eight years after their divorce, Maake kaNcube went back to court to seek relief, saying Mboweni gave him a raw deal.
In the application, which Sunday World has seen, he stated that he and his ex-wife were granted a decree of divorce that provided for the equal division of the joint estate.
The former Generations actor said that in the subsistence of their marriage, Mboweni did not disclose her financial records to him.
“I was never aware of how much her source of income or source of funds was; neither did I ever have sight of the assets that she possessed. At the dissolution of our marriage, all known assets and liabilities were meant to be shared between the respondent and me, however, I incurred all of the liabilities solely while the respondent went about her life.
“I have, therefore, now approached this honourable court for an order varying the current decree of divorce as it stands to appoint a liquidator who will dissolve the joint estate, taking into cognisance the assets that had been divided at the time of the dissolution and the liabilities that I ended up with,” he stated in the application, which was submitted to court by Burger Huyser Attorneys.
The actor requested the court to vary the decree of divorce so it could correctly reflect the assets and liabilities between him and his ex-wife. Afterwards, he stated, a liquidator should be appointed to equally distribute the assets.
The varied decree of divorce should reflect, among others, his WesBank personal loan of more than R26 000, Sanlam personal loan of more than R100 000, an Audi Financial Services account owing more than R147 000 and a Sars tax bill of about R200 000.
He also stated that the varied decree of divorce should reflect an Eskom electricity bill for his Soweto home, in Dube, owing R300 000.
The court dismissed his application.
