Divorce is rarely easy, especially when the stakes involve multimillion-rand fortunes, assets and businesses.
And while section 12 of the South African Divorce Act prohibits the publication of information during divorce, the little that comes to light still sparks conversation.
Cue Grammy award-winning Black Coffee and actress Enhle Mbali’s longtime divorce legal battle that quickly became the talk of town when Mlotshwa filed for divorce in 2019.
On October 10, a pivotal ruling by the Johannesburg high court validated their customary marriage from 2011, consequently nullifying the subsequent civil marriage and antenuptial contract entered into in 2017.
This placed their union in community of property, legally entitling Mlotshwa to a 50% stake in the couple’s multimillion-rand estate, including luxury homes, cars and international investments accumulated over a decade.
“I am officially Miss Mlotshwa. I’m so grateful for this ugly journey that gave me so many lessons.” Enhle wrote on her Instagram timeline when announcing the news to her followers this month.
Their journey highlights the complex legal and financial stakes of a high net worth separation.
Specialist divorce and criminal defence attorney Billy Gundelfinger said the core insight from the case is that customary marriages are equal to civil marriages since the law was amended in 2000.
“Should you not wish to be married in community of property you are required to enter into a prenuptial contract [commonly known as an ANC] before the customary or civil marriage takes place. Should you have failed to do so and in certain exceptional circumstances, you may launch an application requesting a court to condone your failure. On good cause shown a court may grant permission for parties to enter into a prenuptial contract post the marriage either by a customary union or a civil marriage.”
In 1994, social-butterfly-turned-businesswoman Edith Venter, 75, made headlines when she received a R10m divorce settlement from industrialist Bill Venter. At the time, it was said to be the biggest divorce settlement in South Africa.
“We came to an arrangement and that was it,” Venter told the Sunday Times.
“Divorce is not a happy situation ever. My boys were young at that stage, so obviously I had to make sure they were well looked after from schooling or whatever it was. I did it for my boys. It’s not fun and games. It’s always a sad moment for me, not a happy one. But it was a long time ago, and everyone has moved on, so that’s great.
“Quite soon after that there were other settlements that were bigger. What I received was small in comparison to what happens now. It was the sadness for me, the money is irrelevant.
“I feel like an antenuptial contract is the best form of contract if you are looking to get married. If you get married in community of property, I suppose you might need to be very careful.”
Internationally acclaimed producer and composer Lebohang “Lebo M” Morake might be dubbed ‘South Africa’s serial husband’, but he’s mostly had his ducks in a row when it comes to his marriages.
He’s been married four times, but it was his second marriage of 14 years to Nandi Ndlovu, in which he was married in a community of property, which he refers to as his “most complex”.
After a 10-year court wrangle, a US court ruled in 2021 that he pay her 40% of the monthly gross earnings from this work, including The Lion King.
Businessman Tokyo Sexwale also had to pay up when his 21-year-old marriage to Judy Sexwale fell apart in 2014.
Judy had demanded R150,000 a month but reportedly ended up being paid R50,000 a month in maintenance and an additional R55,000 by one of the Sexwale family trusts to rent a home.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.