Nomampondo Shiceka has lashed out at her former daughter-in-law for selling her late son’s house.
The mother of the late cooperative governance and traditional affairs minister Sicelo Shiceka spent a freezing winter night on the streets on Monday after being evicted from her son’s palatial home in Midrand.
The former Cabinet minister’s mother, Nomampondo Shiceka, was kicked out of her son’s home by a court sheriff after his ex-wife and his children sold the house on auction. The 84-year-old has been living in the plush Vorna Valley property in Midrand since the death of her son in April 2012.
A heartbroken Shiceka told City Press on Thursday that no one had informed her that the house was on sale.
“Things were done behind my back yet my son clearly said I must look after his home before his death,” Shiceka said.
Shiceka shared the Midrand house with one of the later minister’s 19 children, Luyanda. She explained that on Monday she was woken up by Luyanda telling her that a sheriff was at the door with six men who were planning to remove them from the house.
“We were told to get out of the house as it now belonged to an Indian lady. They pushed us out of the house and threw out everything,” she said.
While they were trying to make sense of what was happening, two of Sicelo’s sons arrived in a car and took away some of the furniture, including sofas.
“When I asked why they were taking the furniture they told me it belonged to their father and was by default their possession now.
“Before Sicelo died he had thrown them out of the house and told them to never return to his home. And there they were on Monday to take what belongs to a man who had disowned them,” she said.
Shiceka also blamed Sicelo’s estranged wife, Cleopatra Shiceka, for her troubles.
“MaDlamini’s [Cleopatra’s] lawyer, Mr Anderson, came earlier this month to tell me that she was intending to sell the house together with my eldest two grandsons and we would have to move out of the house.
“I didn’t know why my daughter-in-law would kick us out of the house because she and Sicelo were married out of community of property. She came from Swaziland with no house and lived in a house that was already there,” Shiceka said.
The elderly woman slept in a car with Luyanda on Monday night, guarding what was left of the furniture and other belongings thrown out of the house.
“My son would have been very hurt by what happened here,” she fumed.
Although Shiceka has found herself on the receiving end of the legal process, she admitted to City Press that she had her own home in her village of Ingquza Hill, near Flagstaff, Lusikisiki, in the Eastern Cape.
Cleopatra denied any wrongdoing. She told City Press that she acted legally in disposing of her late husband’s estate to benefit all 19 children Sicelo left behind and who are the beneficiaries of the late minister’s estate.
Cleopatra, a lawyer by profession, said Shiceka was not listed as a beneficiary in Sicelo’s estate.
She questioned why the elderly woman had been occupying the Midrand house in the first place and not staying in her home in the Eastern Cape, which she said the late minister spent a fortune developing for his mother but was now falling apart because it was standing empty.
“I am not that type of person and they know it. So tell them [Shiceka’s family] if they want me to tell the world what they were doing to his kids then I will do that.”
“Sicelo’s children got his money because they are his kids. There is a file at the Master’s Office and there is a law that guides the estate of deceased people.”
“You don’t die and then [your estate] belongs to people who are sitting in the house. There is a law that guides it. I am a lawyer and I would never ever steal anyone’s money. I live in my own house, I work for myself and I buried my husband with dignity,” Cleopatra said emphatically.
“If anybody puts my name into disrepute about this please know that I would sue them. There is a Master’s Office, you can go there and have a look at the file,” Cleopatra insisted, adding that all 19 children had received an equal share of the proceeds.
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