Anti-apartheid activist and world-renowned sculptor Dumile Feni's daughter, Marriam Diale, is suing well-known Gallery Momo for R12m over nonpayment.

Diale filed papers at the Joburg high court last week in which she seeks a court order compelling Monna Mokoena, owner of Gallery Momo, to pay her father's estate R12m she said was made from the proceeds of the sculptures sold by the gallery.

Diale had asked the Joburg-based gallery to help her sell the sculptures made by Feni before he died in the US in 1991.

Some of the revered pieces inspired by Feni's struggle for freedom and justice have since fetched big prices, ranging from R600,000 to R6m.

Among the sculptures, according to high court papers, which appear to have informed the dispute between Diale and the gallery, was "The Prisoner".

The piece depicted a figure of a nude black man with his hands behind his back, which the papers show was sold by Gallery Momo for R6m at the Cape Town Art Fair.

The second disputed artwork was titled "Hands", which is a bronze piece that sold for R600,000 at the Aspire Art Auctions in April last year. However, Diale said despite all these impressive sales, her father's estate had not received the proceeds of the artworks and she accused Mokoena of ducking and diving whenever she asked about the monies.

She said the last payment from the proceeds of the sales was made in 2013.

Mokoena said he was not aware of the action against him and his company as he had not yet received the papers.

"We will wait for the sheriff to serve us with the papers. All I can say is that we don't owe her any money, and as soon as we receive the papers, we will defend ourself," he said.

As a result of the dispute, she had also asked the court to declare the oral mandate she gave to the gallery to commercialise her father's work invalid and to return all his work.

Diale had also questioned the legality of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed between the Dumile Feni Family Trust, which she represents, and the gallery. She said she had been advised by her lawyers that the MOU would not be legally enforceable.

She said the MOU, which was authored by Mokoena, sought to give Gallery Momo certain rights by the family trust, which were supposed to be held by the estate of her father. Diale said the terms of the MOU had since expired as the agreement was for three years, from 2009.

She said despite the expiry of the MOU, the gallery continued to sell her father's works under the same condition of 40% commission for every sale.

"In exchange for the [unreasonably] exorbitant commission percentage [40%], the respondent undertook to financially assist me on a monthly basis and fund the necessary trips made locally and internationally to collect the identified and located works of art of Dumile Feni that had been scattered over various locations throughout the world by my father during his exile."

Her lawyer, Thokozani Mthembu, confirmed they have filed summons against the gallery on behalf of their client. "We can confirm that we filed the summons at court to recover monies owed to our client. We send them several communications which they have ignored, and now they have to respond to the court application," said Mthembu.