CAPE TOWN - An Egyptian farmer has been ordered, pending divorce action, to pay his estranged wife just over R77 000 per month for maintenance compared to the R2 000 he offered at the start of the proceedings at the Gauteng High Court.
The estranged couple who share a minor daughter and adult son have been living apart since November last year after the woman fled from the family home having suffered a tumultuous marriage with a long history of abuse, intimidation, and violence.
The woman, a cancer survivor, has relied on her husband for their living expenses. The parties are married out of community of property, including accruals and the family home is the applicant’s (wife) home.
While the man owns a seven hectare working farm, has several income streams and receives income from rental property he lets out in Egypt and has an estimated property portfolio to be valued at R25 million.
The family had enjoyed at least two annual overseas trips and their total household budget totalled about R85 000 per month, which includes a staff of four - a chef, two body guards, a gardener, and a domestic helper.
“(A witness) submitted that although all the luxuries have been available to her and their children, they have lived in a very volatile home environment, due to his temper and his controlling manner. The applicant has endured this from the early days of their marriage and has lived in frustration and fear all along. She was 37-years-old at the date of marriage and is unable to continue to live a life of degradation and to watch her young daughter grow in this environment.
“She asks the court to order pendente lite (depending on the outcome of litigation) that the minor child’s primary residence be with her and that he continues to pay for her school expenses while she be allowed to manage their daily expenses,” court documents read.
According to the court papers, each time she pursued a business, the husband would interfere with its management and eventually in her last business she handed it over to him to run. It did not operate for too long after as he could not get along with the staff who refused to work with him.
“The further evidence is that she has suffered a long history of abuse, intimidation, and violence at the hands of the respondent who has a controlling personality. Early on in their marriage, he controlled their socialising with friends and family. In 2002, the husband pointed a firearm at their minor child, she reported this to the SAPS, but nothing had come of that and she was advised that the ‘file had gone missing’. The husband had threatened to kill her and set her alight. They lived in a very volatile home environment,” the court papers stated.
In an extensive costs order by Judge Ismail Mahomed, the man had been ordered to pay R20 000 per month for maintenance to his estranged wife, R15 000 maintenance per month for the minor child, R9 625 per month for medical aid premiums for the entire family, R7 495 per month being household costs and an amount of R15 000 for accommodation costs for the woman and their minor daughter.
Cape Times