Cape Town - Third time lucky were the words the ex-wife of former Judge President of the Western Cape High Court, John Hlophe, and the words Judge Gayaat Salie’s mother often used to say to her.
But never did Gayaat realise it would come true one day when she married the man of her dreams, Portuguese businessman, Mauro Nunes Mendes Da Silva after a romance which began in February.
The beautiful wedding reception took place at the exquisite, elegant and historical venue, Casa Labia in Muizenberg on December 3, 2023, with a 100-strong guest list, bridesmaids and one of her daughter’s Hannah Samuels, 15, walking her down the aisle.
The groom, Mauro and bride, Salie, looked the picture of love.
Mauro has embraced Islam but has kept his birth name. He has become handy man and educator around the house, even helping the girls with their homework and university assignments, which Salie said was ‘better than a bunch of roses’.
Hannah is in Grade 10 while Nina is following in her mother’s footsteps and is studying law.
Of the ceremony she said: “I chose to be present at the Nikah so I broke the general mould where the male guests would usually attend to the Nikah at a Mosque. Instead I entered the Nikah with Hannah, preceded by the bridesmaids with the beautiful violin live performance as we walked down the aisle overlooking the ocean and mountain.”
Salie is mother to three daughters, Zara, 22, Nina, 20 and Hannah Samuels, from her first marriage to advocate Adrian Samuels.
Earlier this week, the newly weds opened their lovely home to the Weekend Argus.
They shared their love story, her disappointments during her divorce from Hlophe, her career, motherhood and finding herself again.
Salie said she had lost herself during her second marriage and that the pressure of the media and Hlophe’s ongoing impeachment battles had weighed her down emotionally and had taken its toll on her and her family.
“I felt that I had worked so hard to achieve what I wanted in my career but that it was being overshadowed and one day I saw that I was on the front page of a newspaper and someone reading it was sipping a cup of coffee. It dawned on me that, I was unhappy, I could not have my children being my protectors, I was supposed to protect them, they would instinctively hug me without me saying anything.”
Now the home is filled with laughter, colourful decor and family photographs.
“The house was quiet and now it is full of laughter and it is a full circle and everything has fallen into place,” said Salie.
It was after Salie and Nina went on a mom and daughter adventure to Thailand, a sabbatical and rebirth for her, that she met Mauro.
While taking a break from her judicial duties and planning her birthday in February, Salie and Mauro’s destined paths crossed at the One & Only hotel in Cape Town.
Mauro makes it known he had pursued her from the moment he saw her.
“I thought she was a very good looking woman and that she was a foreigner,” he said.
The two exchanged telephone numbers and later long chats and conversations became visits, even jogging together and spending time around the “boeka” table.
“When I met him I told him my name is Gina because I didn’t want him to know who I am,” she added.
“Now as my mother had said third time lucky, little did I know those words were for me.”
Both Gayaat and Hlophe were in the headlines recently. He for possible impeachment by parliament after the Judicial Service Commission recommended his suspension. She for a maintenance tussle between herself and her first husband, advocate Samuels.
Hlophe married Salie in 2015, but the couple were officially divorced in 2022 and announced it in January 2023.