Sifelani Hlahleni v Estate Late John Zeburoni Hlahleni and Others

Applicant Sifelani Hlahleni was the daughter of the late John Zeburoni Hlahleni, who died intestate on 1 April 1985. The deceased had been married customarily to Lilian Jackson with whom he had four children (Priscilla Mazodze, Getrude Hlahleni, Rosemary Hlahleni, and Bigboy Hlahleni). Prior to his death, he married the applicant's mother, Flora Hlahleni, under the Marriage Act on 3 July 1976. Applicant was born in 1975 and was 10 years old when her father died. Upon his death, his three daughters allegedly expelled Flora and the applicant from the matrimonial property. The estate was registered twice: first under WE4/MISC27/87 under customary law where the immovable property (Stand Number 633 Makomo, Epworth) was inherited by Priscilla Mazodze as the eldest child, and second under DRH 90/12 where the property was awarded jointly to Rosemary and Getrude Hlahleni. Flora Hlahleni died in 2013. The applicant, who had settled in Zambia, returned to Zimbabwe and sought to have the cession declared null and void, claiming fraud and misrepresentation regarding her father's marital status.

• What law governed the administration of estates of Africans married under general law who died intestate in 1985?
• Whether section 68G of the Administration of Estates Act applied retrospectively to estates administered before 1 November 1997
• Whether the estate of the late John Zeburoni Hlahleni was administered under the correct legal framework
• Whether the applicant and her mother were wrongfully excluded as beneficiaries
• Whether the applicant had locus standi to challenge the administration of the estate
• Whether a declaratur should be granted declaring the cession of the property null and void

The application was dismissed with no order as to costs.

Section 68G of the Administration of Estates Act, which came into effect on 1 November 1997, does not apply retrospectively to estates administered prior to that date. For estates of Africans who died intestate in 1985, section 13 of the African Marriages Act applied, providing that property of African spouses married under the Marriage Act devolved according to customary law. Under customary law applicable in 1985, a widow could not be a beneficiary of her husband's intestate estate, and the eldest child (including female children following the Legal Age of Majority Act and Chihowa v Mangwende) inherited immovable property in their personal capacity.

The court observed that if the applicant's mother had been aggrieved at the time, she could have approached the Master, given that an heir at customary law had an obligation to provide accommodation to the deceased's wife if needed, referencing Masango v Masango SC66/86. The court also noted that the applicant's averments were largely hearsay as she was only ten years old at the time of the events in question and appeared to be speaking on behalf of her deceased mother. The court commented that the applicant simply needed to have been apprised of the correct legal position applicable at the time her father died.

This case clarifies the application of succession law to Africans married under the Marriage Act who died intestate before the coming into force of section 68G of the Administration of Estates Act on 1 November 1997. It confirms that section 13 of the then African Marriages Act (later the Customary Marriages Act) provided that property of African spouses married under the Marriage Act would devolve according to customary law unless disposed of by will. The case demonstrates the non-retrospective application of statutory reforms in succession law and the historical position under customary law that widows could not inherit from their intestate husbands. It also illustrates the impact of the Legal Age of Majority Act No 15 of 1982 on inheritance rights of women as interpreted in Chihowa v Mangwende, allowing female heirs to inherit as the eldest child.