Johannesburg - Lerato Sengadi, the newly declared wife of deceased rapper HHP, has said she now has the power to give the artist the burial he wanted.
She said this shortly after an urgent application at the High Court in Joburg where she succeeded in being recognised as the customary law wife of HHP (real name Jabulani Tsambo), but failed to interdict his state-sanctioned funeral set to take place today in Mahikeng, North West.
Sengadi’s application was based on her claims Tsambo wished to be buried in Joburg, as this would allow his 13-year-old son to visit his grave.
She also insisted the rapper was opposed to having a “political” funeral that involved members of government. But after the court ruled that the funeral would have to go ahead today - meaning a Mahikeng burial with a eulogy from the North West premier - Sengadi’s attorney, Ndileka Ngoqo-Sithole, told reporters yesterday evening there were still options her client could pursue. While the funeral could not be stopped, a future exhumation of his body wasn’t off the table, she said.
While another bitter court battle looks set between Sengadi and the Tsambo family, yesterday’s proceedings were resolved with a carefully considered judgment from veteran Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng.
Sengadi’s application sought to recognise her 2016 customary law union to the artist, interdict the funeral to allow her to plan another in Johannesburg, but also to regain access to their matrimonial home.
Her founding affidavit revealed the couple had conducted lobola negotiations in 2016, that both families had agreed to their union, and that a handing over ceremony took place at her mother’s home in Dube, Soweto in February that year. However, in his responding papers, HHP’s father, Robert Tsambo, insisted the marriage rites had never been completed and denied Sengadi was the rapper’s wife.
Tsambo senior’s lawyer, advocate Don Mahon, argued while case law was divided on what processes had to be completed for a customary marriage to be recognised, there was little evidence the celebration at the Dube home had been a handing over ceremony.
A letter written and signed by the Tsambo family from the date of the celebration indicated that further lobola negotiations and payments would need to take place, meaning the union was incomplete, at least according to Mahon and his client.
Representing Sengadi, advocate Andy Bester argued his client had met all of the requirements listed in the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act, that the bulk of the lobola had already been paid, and that the family had never objected to references to Sengadi as HHP’s wife on social media.
He insisted the handing over ceremony was legitimate, providing pictures of the couple on the day in what he declared was “traditional” garb, and that female members of the Tsambo family had officially recognised Sengadi as a member of the family on the day of the Dube celebration.
Regarding the attempts to put a stop to the Mahikeng funeral, Mahon said that because the artist was considered a “national treasure”, the provincial government had already booked a venue that could host 5000 people.
He said it would be a great financial loss to the family and government officials who had already planned the funeral, and many people from across the country had already booked accommodation in the province to pay their respects.
He also said the Tsambo family had invited Sengadi to the funeral, so it was not as though she would be barred from attending.
After proceedings, Sengadi would only say she would give her husband the funeral he desired, though she would not be drawn on whether she would attend today’s funeral proceedings.