A TUG-OF-WAR for former ANC Youth League president Peter Mokaba’s estate – pitting his children against his sister, former Limpopo MEC for Safety, Security and Liaison Mapula Mokaba-Phukwana – has taken an ugly turn.
Two of Mokaba’s three children, Nomzamo Mokaba, 33, and Siyabulela Matshoba, 33, contacted Independent Media to accuse their aunt of misconduct in handling the estate.
Mokaba, who was also a member of Parliament and a deputy minister, died on June 9, 2002, after contracting pneumonia at the age of 43.
The two are in clash with their aunt over inheritance of father’s land and say they have launched an investigation into their father’s death.
The siblings said their complaints fell on deaf ears when they reached out to ANC officials for help, saying the party’s secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula, was aware of the situation yet had done nothing to intervene.
“Soon after my father died, my aunt got involved with trying to take over the assets and is now lying, saying it was my grandmother,” Matshoba said in an email to Independent Media.
The children accused Mokaba-Phukwana of claiming that they were not his children so that she could claim everything for herself. They further alleged that she forged a fake marriage certificate with a woman whose name is known to The Star, intending to use this to get the assets and split them between them.
They said Mokaba-Phukwana and the woman then forcefully removed their elder sister from their father’s home, claiming she had no right to be there and threw her out.
They also claimed she took all movable assets and sold their father’s house without their consent.
“She (Mokaba-Phukwana) somehow got hold of my father’s estate documents from the national archives, went on to open the Peter Mokaba Foundation and made her ex-husband the chairperson of this foundation,” the email further stated.
Despite the children possessing the title deed of the Mankweng land their father left them in Limpopo, which Independent Media saw, they were now engaged in a court battle to remove the illegal tenants their aunt placed on their 8 000m² piece of land.
“She has not been able to produce a single thread of proof that she is the owner. The title deed and municipal bill are in our names, the municipal bill is over R300 000 ... meanwhile, she has been illegally collecting rent and influencing the people not to move.
“We have never seen a cent of that rent in our lives and she will lie to anyone saying she pays the rates. We’re in debt of R300 000.”
The duo further said they feared for their lives as their aunt was a powerful senior member of the ruling party with a lot of power in Limpopo.
Nomzamo added: “My father has an 8 000m² piece of land, not too far from the home he built for his late mother.
“We have been in negotiations since 2016 to build a shopping centre on the property, in honour of our father.”
She said the coroner’s report said her father died of respiratory failure but she was suspicious.
“I don’t know what happened.
“I went to bed and my father was fine and the next day I was woken up by my mother because my aunt heard about his death being reported on the news.”
Attempts were made to contact Mokaba-Phukwana for comment over the past week, but she could not be reached.
Mbalula’s phone rang unanswered.
ANC provincial spokesperson, Jimmy Machaka, said that the party, especially in Limpopo, were not aware of the matter but would look into it.
The Star