The short-lived marriage of a former political science student and a high-ranking member of the provincial legislature 39 years her senior ended in divorce, with the woman forfeiting half their joint estate.
The woman told the high court in Bloemfontein that their marriage was on the rocks as they did not see eye to eye on things.
The husband, who is also a grandfather, said he suspected she married him for his money and political connections. He suspected she was embarrassed to be seen in public with him.
The woman turned to court to obtain a divorce order, coupled with an order that half their joint estate – mostly his money – should go to her. In a counter-application, the husband asked that she forfeit the benefits.
The couple were married in community of property. It appeared this was not what the husband had intended but because the wife was so busy, they never got around to addressing the marriage regime until they had split up.
The parties married in October 2019 and separated 11 months later. But in this time, they lived only a fraction of the time together. They also cohabited on and off before their marriage.
The wife testified that they met in 2012, while she was a political science student and he was a high-ranking member of the provincial legislature. In 2014, they were engaged and, a few months later, their relationship ended.
They resumed their relationship towards the end of 2014. In early 2015, they leased premises in an upmarket suburb in Bloemfontein and had a child together.
Two years later, the wife bought a property in her own name; she said they were often estranged from each other. At that time, the husband had three properties of his own.
At the end of June 2019, they were in a more definite relationship. The wife testified they had a short discussion about how they would get married. As a result of her busy schedule, they would register the marriage and then have a celebration at a later stage.
The parties registered their marriage in October 2019, but lived separately until January 2020.
They again lived together for a short while, but the wife said she wanted to move back to her luxury stand-alone house. The defendant lived in a unit in a group of residences.
Shortly afterwards, they broke up. The wife said she was, among other things, fed-up with him maintaining his ex-wife and grandchildren.
The husband said the age difference between them was one of the problems. He also believed the wife married him to enhance her financial position.
The court said that having observed the parties when they testified and having considered the content of their testimony, it must agree that the wife was young and impressionable.
"She appeared image-conscious and ambitious, and wanted to assert herself as financially and emotionally independent, while utilising the resource that she had in the defendant to assist her to accelerate her progress," Acting Judge AK Ramlal said, granting the husband the forfeiture order
