SCA Judge Mahube Molemela ruled against HHP’s father, Robert Tsambo, in a court order released on 30 April 2020, citing a lack of evidence in the form of confirmatory affidavits to support his argument as one of the reasons for her ruling. 

On 6 March, Don Mahon, representing the senior Tsambo on a pro-bono basis in the Bloemfontein-based court contended that the Sengadi and Tsambo families never intended on finalising the customary marriage proceedings when lobola was agreed on and paid for at Sengadi’s family home in Soweto on 28 February 2016. 

Molemela who led the full bench that heard the appeal, says in her judgment that Sengadi’s version of the events that took place on the day of the lobola negotiations is supported by several confirmatory affidavits, whereas, the elder Tsambo’s “bare denials do not refute the respondent’s evidence”.

During the appeal in early March, Mahon shifted the focus of Tsambo’s argument from the “handing over” as a legal requirement for finalising a customary marriage, to the intention of all the parties when lobola was agreed upon. “It’s not whether the ‘handing over’ is a legal requirement for customary marriage, it’s whether the parties intended on finalising the marriage when lobola was paid in Soweto on 28 February 2016”, said Mahon at the beginning of his delivery. 

According to the deceased’s father, the lunch and festivities in Soweto were to celebrate an agreement being reached on the lobola, not the finalisation of the customary marriage proceedings. Sengadi, represented by Andy Bester, on the other end argued that the festivities in Soweto were more of a wedding. In her founding affidavit, she says she was surprised with a wedding dress by HHP’s aunts after an agreement was reached on the lobola.

In the 2018 affidavit, it’s revealed she noticed “during the celebration after the negotiations were completed, that the deceased had changed his clothing and was now dressed in formal wedding attire”. She also noticed that the deceased's aunts went into the house with a covered clothing hanger. They requested her to accompany them into one of the bedrooms and informed her that the attire they had in the bedroom was her wedding dress.

Molemela questions in the lengthy judgment why the applicants did not have an affidavit from one of HHP’s aforementioned aunts who were present on the day to support their assertion on the families’ intention. It’s revealed they instead attached a sworn statement by the rapper’s mother who was not part of the negotiations or the celebrations that followed. “While rituals associated with the handing over of the bride, like the slaughtering of the sheep and the consumption of its bile were indeed not observed, there are some features that bear consideration. It is quite striking that the deceased’s aunts are the ones who provided the respondent with an attire matching that of the deceased and who actually dressed her up in it. That they described it as her wedding dress is quite telling. These are customary practices that are undoubtedly compatible with an acceptance of the respondent by the deceased’s family” says Molemela. 

Furthermore, the judge says the fact that the couple continued to live together post the celebrations, with Sengadi adding the rapper as her medical aid beneficiary and spouse, are details that should not be deemed insignificant.

Mahon asked in court why was a future meeting date set on the conclusion of the lobola if the intention was finalised on that day. Justice Phineas Mojapelo who was a part of the full bench, answered Mahon sarcastically: “Because there was a balance to be paid”. This elicited a reaction from some of Sengadi’s family members and supporters present in the SCA. The rapper paid R30 000 of the agreed R45 000 lobola amount into Sengadi’s mother’s bank account in February 2016. He was to pay the remaining R15 000 in two tranches at a later date.

Molemela says she is persuaded “that on 28 February 2016, the respondent and the deceased concluded a customary marriage that complied with all the requirements for a valid customary marriage as contemplated in Section 3 (1) of the Act. It follows that the appeal against that order of the high court must fail”.

Sengadi, a public relations professional told media, while flanked by friends and family at the SCA, that it’s been a long journey to this point and she is hopeful that the application has marked the end of their ordeal. “I trust the justice system will do what is right and right the wrongs that have been a generational curse for black widows,” Sengadi rounded off. She announced the SCA ruled in her favour on social media on Friday.

Reports reveal the couple’s marriage was troubled and exacerbated by HHP’s mental illness, drug dependency and alleged infidelity. Sengadi is reported to have left the common home at the time of the rapper’s death in 2018, because of the above-mentioned issues.

No court order was made regarding costs.

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