“This issue has impoverished me”
Botswana Patriotic Front’s candidate for Lobatse constituency in the 2019 general elections, Kamal Jacobs, will finally have peace after the High Court ordered that he be given the estate of his late father, Oswald Jacobs.
Although Oswald passed away 13 years ago, Kamal has been battling with the family lawyer, Rahim Khan, in court to get his inheritance from his father’s estate all these years.
In a recent interview with The Voice, Kamal said that after the death of his father, he and Khan were appointed joint executors and administrators of his father’s estate.
But unlike Khan, Kamal was not only an executor and administrator of the estate but a beneficiary of the same estate, too.
The two men, lawyer and client, clashed over the sale of Oswald’s business plots at Thema ward in Lobatse, which Khan advocated for and Kamal opposed.
“Those are plots with Dia buwa and The Flames Complex which Khan wanted to sell by a way of private treaty, a decision I was against,” explained Kamal.
When delivering judgment, Judge Kebonang said that in case there is no reason for Khan to withhold the said business, it is clear that the other beneficiaries would never enjoy their inheritance rights.
“There has in fact been a state of uncertainty with respect to the estate for the past 13 years and the only people that have benefited from such state have been the executors,” noted Kebonang.
Although Khan has alleged that he is or was acting in the interest of other beneficiaries, he did not file any confirmatory or supporting affidavits from them.
Kebonang said that Khan has not identified the interest that he is protecting and how he is protecting it.
The judge further noted that a common sense approach requiring that security documents be given to Kamal to raise the necessary capital is more logical and in the best interests of all beneficiaries.
“There has been no concern or fear expressed by the other beneficiaries that such an approach would be detrimental to their own interests or that Kamal is untrustworthy or lacking in good faith,” the judge further stated.
In conclusion, Kebonang ordered that Kamal be given his late father’s businesses. “Finally, I will move on with my life, this issue has impoverished me,” said the delighted Kamal.
