Cape Town - Acting judge Patrick Maqubela's wife wanted revenge after finding out about his extramarital affairs, the Western Cape High Court heard on Tuesday.
Bonnie Currie-Gamwo, for the State, put it to Thandi Maqubela that she went to her husband's employer and the media to expose him.
“The idea was not to assist him (with a bi-polar disorder) but to embarrass and expose him,” she told Maqubela, who was on the stand.
“Your intention was to destroy your husband's career.”
Maqubela strongly denied the allegation.
“If someone relapses... You must be firm. I told him 'if you relapse, I'm going to go to your employer'. It was an agreement between my husband and myself,” she replied.
Maqubela and co-accused Vela Mabena have pleaded not guilty to murdering Patrick Maqubela by suffocating him with cling-wrap in his Sea Point apartment on June 5, 2009.
Maqubela claims her husband died from natural causes.
She also faces charges of forgery and fraud, for allegedly forging her husband's signature on a false will, and for presenting it at the office of the master of the Johannesburg High Court, a department that deals with deceased and insolvent estates.
Justice Minister Jeff Radebe previously testified that Maqubela complained to him about her husband's affairs.
Currie-Gamwo said Radebe and others testified that she had showed them a dossier with evidence of these relationships.
Maqubela said she had only shown them training documents about families, youth, men and women.
Asked if Radebe had therefore lied to the court, she did not want to commit to an answer.
“I don't know whether I can say the honourable 1/8minister 3/8 was lying, but that's not what I showed him.”
All she showed Radebe was her husband's sex booster tablets and hotel bills, she said.
The court heard she approached a newspaper with personal details about her husband's affairs.
Maqubela said she and her husband sat down and agreed on what she would do if he carried on with his behaviour, including approaching the media.
Currie-Gamwo said she refused to believe the acting judge would agree to such public humiliation.
“I did not hide to my husband. I told him this is what I'm going to do,” Maqubela said.
The State asked if her husband would have lost his job if the story had been published.
“It was going to be up to him. It was going to be possible (for him to keep his job),” she said.
Judge John Murphy said he believed that would be “highly unlikely”. - Sapa