My father is not looking to benefit from Dingaan’s estate – brother assures

Bongani maintains his father wants the estate to go to late boxer’s biological kids

Dingaan Thobela’s brother says the late boxer was confused by some of the children who claimed to be his when he was still alive.

Speaking to Sowetan outside Johannesburg high court on Tuesday, Bongani said he would often have conversations about who was actually his child and who wasn’t.

The boxer’s father Godfrey, 78, has taken 10 of Dingaan’s children to court to stop the winding up of his son’s estate pending the outcome of DNA results to prove that the children are indeed biologically his.

Bongani said the problem was that the children never came home to visit and none of their mothers became pregnant and said “this is Dingaan’s child”. 

“From the 10 (listed as respondents in the court papers), I would count four that we don’t know. One comes from Rustenburg, another from Mpumalanga.

“That’s why my father is pushing all of this because he wants the estate to go to the right children. He wanted to do things right under the family of Thobela,” said Bongani.

However, the matter was struck off the roll after Godfrey failed to explain to Judge Phanuel Mudau why it was urgent, only emphasising the cultural and traditional aspects of the case.

After the matter was struck off the roll, Godfrey told Sowetan he was confused.

That’s why my father is pushing all of this because he wants the estate to go to the right children. He wanted to do things right under the family of Thobela.Bongani Thobela

“These children.. we are not sure about some of them. When he (Thobela) was alive he would make a fuss about most of them, saying they were not his.

"But now they come after his funeral and say they are his and now the master is winding the estate.

“I don’t know what’s going on. I just want everything to be done the right way; I was confused about how things would be done,” he said.

Bongani said he had initially thought he would be able to assist his father in explaining the urgency of the case but was told that the applicant had to speak by himself.

“The reason for the urgency is that these children are winding up the estate, and we have already seen advertisements for the sale of his properties. It’s exhausting, but he couldn’t explain that and only stuck to the cultural and traditional aspects of it. I was scared to interpret in court; I wasn’t sure if that was allowed or not.

“It’s frustrating because now we must start all over again, but we will proceed as advised; to stop the master [of the high court] from providing original documentation, and come back again,” he said.

Bongani also added that rumours about his father wanting money were untrue.

“This matter is hurting every Thobela. They don’t know what’s happening, but they just see things in the news or hear things from people on the street. My father wants to settle this matter himself so that he can know that if the estate of the late Dingaan is dealt with, there must be a protocol followed under the family’s guidance and rules.

“Unfortunately, he can’t do that because he doesn’t know what is what and who is who. That is why he decided to push this matter to the court, so he can clear the air,” Bongani said.

He said Godfrey does not want anything or seek to benefit from Thobela’s estate.

“It all has to go to the children. That is fair enough, but unfortunately, we have to protect the surname.

"Some of these children are unfamiliar. It’s been tense with the children; we don’t talk to each other because at some point, they even served my father with papers. They came with the police and served him with a subpoena.

“This pertains to a property and how my father had invaded it. They had the nerve to do that just after Dingaan’s cleansing,” said Bongani.

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