Judge Patrick Maqubela, acting judge in the Western Cape High Court, was suffocated June 5, 2009 in his Bantry Bay flat. He wife of his second marriage, Thandi Maqubela, has been accused of co-conspiring to kill him.
At the time of his death, Thandi Maqubela declared her husband had died intestate or without a testamentary document in place. Later, she declared that she had found his will. The difference between how Mr. Maqubela's R20m estate would be distributed by the laws of intestate versus by a will it hugh.
According to the intestate laws of South Gauteng, Thandi Maqubela would receive half the estate and Mr. Maqubela's five children would receive the other half to be divided in five equal shares. With the will, the two children from Mr. Maqubela's first marriage are completely cut out of the will and Thandi Maqubela's daughter from a previous marriage is named a beneficiary. Mr. Maqubela's son from his first marriage, Duma, is contesting the validity of the will saying that he cannot believe his father would disinherit him and his sister, Patiwe.
A full article reporting on the situation can be read
here.