Tokyo Sexwale’s courtship of Judy van Vuuren began with smuggled love notes and secret games of footsie in the political prisoners’ camp and ended, a year before South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994, with their marriage.
But 20 years to the day, it has emerged that their union has dissolved in acrimony and the stage is set for one of the biggest and most sensational divorce trials in the Rainbow Nation’s history.
Mr - My People the Poor - Sexwale, who has risen to become one of the country’s richest men through oil and diamond interests and the Human Settlements Minister in Jacob Zuma’s cabinet, has filed for divorce in Johannesburg.
Mrs Sexwale has responded with an affidavit accusing her husband, with whom she has two children aged 19 and 20, of "physical, verbal, mental and emotional abuse and cruelty".
According to her lawyer, the marriage has been over for some time but 10 months ago, she moved into a hotel.
Mr - My Houses Rock - Sexwale is meanwhile said to have been dividing his time between the couple’s mansions –
- two in Johannesburg including
- one around the corner from former president Nelson Mandela,
- one in the exclusive Cape Town seaside suburb of Clifton and
- another in the wine producing town of Franschhoek.
- The couple also own a game farm in the North West Province and
- an island off the coast of Mozambique.
Mrs Sexwale's lawyer, Beverley Clark, said her client was “devastated” at the breakdown of her marriage.
In the heady post-apartheid 90s, the Sexwales featured regularly in the social pages of glossy magazines and newspapers. One columnist described them as a "gem of a couple" and praised Mrs Sexwale’s fashion sense.
“It was a great love story – he was the love of her life,” Mrs Clark said.
The lawyer said her client had preferred to reach a settlement with Mr Sexwale in "an entirely discreet and dignified manner".
But as whispers and Twitter speculation grew this week as to the identity of the senior minister whose marriage had landed in the divorce courts, Mr Sexwale issued a statement to South Africa’s Sunday Times confirming he was involved.
Professor Billy Gundelfinger, a celebrity divorce lawyer who last made world headlines through his representation of Shrien Dewani, the British businessman accused of staging a professional hit on his wife during their honeymoon in Cape Town, told the paper that Mr Sexwale rejected as "false" the allegations made by his wife relating to his conduct.
Mr Gundelfinger added that it was regrettable that Mrs Sexwale, whom he described as "a wealthy woman", should be claiming that she was receiving insufficient maintenance payments from her estranged husband.
Court papers show she is seeking a R70-million (49m GBP) house, R3 million to furnish it, a new R1 million car every five years and monthly maintenance of R150,000 (10,000 GBP).
She claims that Mr Sexwale has been "controlling and secretive" about his financial affairs in a bid to deny her a fair share of their wealth.
Representatives of Mr Sexwale could not be reached for comment.
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