(MENAFN- The Post)
LERIBE
A Butha-Buthe widow is fighting her stepchildren in court after she accused them of making illegal withdrawals of cash from her
bank account.
'Maletšela Letšela told the High Court in Tšifa
Mali that her four stepchildren had taken advantage of her age and gained access to her money through her late husband's death certificate which they used to withdraw some cash.
She did not reveal how much had been withdrawn from the account
Letšela pleaded with the court to order the children to return her late husband's death certificate.
Maletšela was the second wife to the late Mohlabakobo Letšela.
Mohlabakobo's first wife died in 1991.
Letšela told the court in an urgent application that she married Mohlabakobo through customary rites in 1999 and they subsequently solemnised their union by civil rights in November 2003.
“I should state that I married my husband as a widower, his wife having passed away leaving behind four children who are respondents in the matter,” Letšela said
Letšela has two children with Mohlabakobo.
She said at the time of the first wife's death, they had already amassed property in the form of a residential house in Mokhotlong and rental flats in Butha-Buthe.
“I have always considered this property as belonging to the children of my husband's first marriage and continue to hold that view,” Letšela said.
“During my marriage and before my husband's death, we built a residential property at Makopo, Ha-Letšolo, in the district of Butha-Buthe,” she said.
“I had helped my husband to raise his children as my own and we have been living together as a family at my matrimonial home located at Makopo, Ha-Letšolo, until he passed away in October 2024, after a long illness.”Advertisement
Letšela said after the death of her husband, they worked peacefully with his children without any sense of animosity and they appreciated her role as the widow and joint owner of her husband's estate.
“This feeling is aided by a written deposition signed by Refiloe and Lietsietsi Letšela (Mohlabakobo's children from the first marriage) nominating me as the heir in respect of monies held in my husband's name at both the First National Bank and Standard Bank of Lesotho,” she said.
She said Mohlabakobo, with the aid of the family, wrote letters to appoint her heir to his estate in the event of his death.
She said even the children rightfully appointed her as the beneficiary in respect of these monies with a clear understanding that as a spouse to their late father, she was the rightful person to claim for benefits deriving out of his estate.
She said with the aid of the letter, she was able to withdraw funds from the banks to cover the funeral costs
“Shortly after my husband's burial, I was approached by Refiloe, who requested an original copy of my husband's death certificate claiming she wanted to trace funds in my husband's bank account held at Post Bank in South Africa,” she said.
“Sensing no harm, I released the copy to her and she left in the company of her brother and sister.”
She said she had no sense at that point whatsoever that Refiloe's intentions were malicious.
“By that time Refiloe had already assumed possession of my husband's phone and vehicle, and I did not complain owing to my old age and my understanding that
I did not know how to operate a smart phone, and my lack of skills to drive a car,” she said
The siblings, she said, never brought any report regarding the funds they were to trace.
“I got suspicious of their actions and immediately sought intervention from the Butha-Buthe police.”
The police called Refiloe instructing her to return the death certificate, but she informed the officer that the copy was now in the custody of her sibling Litsietsi in South Africa.
Litsietsi later responded that she would“return the certificate on Wednesday, November 20, 2024 but that did not happen rather they are now claiming they never took it”.
“Sensing that the situation had gone out of hand, I decided to go to Post Bank with the aim of tracing the movement of these children,” she said
Letšela said the bank manager told her that the children had instituted a claim as beneficiaries of the funds using the same death certificate.
The manager, she said, advised her to secure a letter of authority from the Master of the High Court for them to handle her case.
The Master of the High Court, she said, could not help her because she did not have the original copy of the certificate.
“I have no other alternative but to seek the court's intervention as I was advised no actions could be taken without the court's order.”
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