David Mabuza’s daughter, Tamara Silinda, has successfully halted the distribution of her father’s R44.7 million pension fund that is being administered by Alexforbes after an urgent court bid.
Silinda approached the Mpumalanga high court last week to stop the distribution of the funds because she was not listed as a beneficiary despite being one of her late father’s dependents.
Nonhlanhla Mnisi, Mabuza’s wife, was named as the only beneficiary to Mabuza’s millions. However, both Silinda and her mother, Emunah, submitted a document from the home affairs department that stated Mabuza was not married at the time of his death.
Emunah said she was Mabuza’s widow, as they were married under customary law in 1999, and while they were separated at the time of his death, they never divorced, she said.
Judge Johannes Roelofse said: “The court grants the application... to be stayed until proper investigation of the dependents of the deceased. As the defendant [Silinda] stated, people who depended on the deceased should not be thrown onto the streets; life should continue as normal.
“In my career as a judge, I have seen how these cases destroy families, causing more pain... which might not be the wish of the deceased person. I would like to plead with the Mabuza family to talk to each other and find a common ground...”
Silinda’s lawyer, Adv Doctor Sibuyi, told Roelofse earlier on Tuesday that a document in their possession suggests that Mabuza had told Alexforbes in May that he wanted to change his nomination of beneficiaries and include his children. However, that never happened, and he died two months later.
Sibuyi said: “I’ve got a letter here on record that is dated September 11 2025. It was written by Mabuza’s daughter Lindeni and directed to [Alexforbes]. The purpose of that document was to check with them with regard to where they are with the distribution of the money.
“A response from Andrew from [Alexforbes] reads: ‘Dear Lindeni, thanks for the chat yesterday [and] for giving me information about your family. I understand you are going to the master’s office. I have attached your father’s latest statement, which shows names of full beneficiary.
‘We had a recent discussion with David [DD Mabuza], he wanted to change the beneficiaries, and we did send him the paperwork. He mentioned he wanted to nominate his children, and what I said is, we wanted the details of the children and [then you can] sign the nomination form.’ ”
Mabuza’s siblings, who support Silinda ’s court bid, were all smiles as they left court after the judgment.
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