A deputy minister has man-aged to convince the Supreme Court of Appeal that his ex-wife was not entitled to half of his estate as they were married out of community of property

On Monday t h e  S CA u p h e l d Deputy Labour Minister Nkosi Phathekile Holomisa’s appeal and ordered that part of an earlier decision by the Mthatha Regional Court be substituted.Judge Zukisa Tshiqi’s judg-ment reads: “The appeal is up-held and the order of the Re-gional Court is substituted tothe limited extent that para-graph 4 is deleted.”

The regional court order that the SCA judgment substituted stated that “by virtue of the ruling by the court[regional]that the marriage is in community of property, division of the joint estate is ordered”.

Holomisa married Bukelwa,a Thembu princess and daughter of former Transkei leader Kaizer Matanzima, in 1995.According to the SCA, the couple settled all issues relating to parental responsibilities towards their two children but could not reach agreement on their matrimonial property regime.

 After his ex-wife’s success at the regional court,Holomisa appealed to the Mthatha High Court, where Judge John Smith dismissed the appeal in  December 2015. Holomisa then approached the SCA, which has now found that they were not married in community of property.

Bukelwa insisted that the marriage was in community of property. Holomisa married his second wife Nosimanye in 2013.Holomisa’s lawyer Sithembele Mgxaji could not be reached for comment.