Pretoria millionaire turns to court to save him from spendthrift wife

File picture: Pixabay

File picture: Pixabay

Published Jan 12, 2019

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Pretoria - When a millionaire married a businesswoman, he thought by transferring his assets into her name, he would be able to benefit. However, she dumped him and allegedly spent the money on luxuries such as cars.

The man, 47, from Centurion said he was left broke and now lives in a small flat owned by a relative. He says she has refused to give him any money, even though the money they had was mainly his.

Added to that, he claimed his wife was trying to find a hitman to kill him.

At the end of his tether, the man turned to the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, in an urgent bid to interdict his wife from selling any of their joint assets. He also asked that the banks urgently be ordered to freeze all their accounts pending their divorce proceedings, set down for later this year.

The parties cannot be named as a divorce is pending.

The man said he became concerned when he saw his wife flaunting on social media that she had bought several luxury cars. As the bank accounts were in her name, there was nothing he could do.

When the couple met in 2012, the man had several big government contracts and was making millions while the woman also owned businesses.

“The fact that we were both entrepreneurs and interested in more tenders, made us compatible. We joined forces in our businesses and I officially became her husband.”

They lived in between eMalahleni and Durban at the time, moving between two homes.

He said they decided, although they were joint business partners, it made sense to transfer everything into her name because, as a black woman, they believed she would get more contracts.

He said he was not worried about doing this as they “loved each other”.

In 2017, they entered into an antenuptial contract which changed their matrimonial property into a marriage out of community of property. This, the court papers explained, was to protect themselves should one become insolvent.

All went well, and they enjoyed the fruits of their fortune until he discovered in 2017 that she was cheating on him under the pretext of going on business trips.

At the beginning of last year, he was at their home in Durban, where she was packing for another business trip. He challenged her as to why she needed so many clothes.

He said she never went back to Durban, going to eMalahleni instead, where she said she wanted a divorce.

The man said as she controlled the purse strings, he did not receive anything.

“My standard of living had changed for the worst and she does not care,” said the man, who is now unemployed.

He claimed shortly before Christmas, his wife sent five men to intimidate his sister and they took all the furniture he took to the flat. He also claimed that she was “tracking him down” wherever he was.

Deputy Judge President Aubrey Ledwaba, however, struck the matter from the court roll as he found it not to be urgent.

Pretoria News

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