Judge refuses to oust one of Karuaihe children’s trustees

AN attempt by one of the guardians of the orphaned children of the late Judge Fonnie Karuaihe to have a maternal aunt of the children removed as a trustee for their inheritance from their late mother, failed in the High Court last week.

In a judgement handed down on Monday, Judge Sylvester Mainga dismissed a bid by one of the guardians of the three Karuaihe children, Maria Lydia (‘Baby’) Conradie, to get the court to order that an aunt of the children, Sigrid Tjijorokisa, be removed as Conradie’s only co-trustee. The late Nokokure Karuaihe had directed that her assets be kept in a trust for her children.Tjijorokisa is the only sister of the late Nokokure Karuaihe, who died in a road accident in April 2001, only a year and four months after her husband, High Court Judge Fonnie Karuaihe, had also died in a car accident.In her will, Nokokure directed that her daughter Uajorokisa, now studying at the University of Cape Town, and sons Janee and John Paul, who are both still at school – were to benefit from a trust until they turned 25 years of age.Her sister and Mrs Conradie were to be the two trustees responsible for administering the trust.Mrs Conradie and her husband, Dirk Conradie, who was a partner of the late judge in the law firm that he ran before his appointment to the bench, were also to be the guardians of her children, while her sister would be their guardian if the Conradies were unable to take on that responsibility.The Conradies’ guardianship got off to a disputed start, though, when they had to sue Tjijorokisa and her mother, and sisters of the late judge to force them to hand the children to the guardians that their mother had chosen for them.By February this year, Mrs Conradie again approached the High Court with an urgent application, this time asking the court to order Tjijorokisa’s removal as a trustee.Mrs Conradie claimed that Tjijorokisa had prevented the proper running of the trust through frequent absences from Namibia, leading to a situation where the urgent financial needs of some of the children could not be met from the trust.Because, she claimed, Tjijorokisa could not be reached to authorise payments from the trust.On the evidence before him, this had not been the case, Judge Mainga found.In his judgement, he said that it was clear that whenever Tjijorokisa was asked to authorise a payment from the trust, she had acceded to the request after she had studied the documents on the request and had been satisfied that the payment was necessary.At worst, Mrs Conradie had proven inconvenience or a misunderstanding between herself and Tjijorokisa, but this was not sufficient reason to warrant the removal of a trustee, the Judge noted.The judge also referred to a lawyer’s letter that had been placed before the court, and which set out the terms of an agreement reached between Mrs Conradie and Tjijorokisa in April this year aimed at getting them to agree on arrangements for their further joint administration of the trust.”The parties would have to seriously sort out their misunderstandings (which I assume they have, when regard is had (to the letter)) and administer the trust in the best interest of the beneficiaries,” Judge Mainga remarked at the end.He did not direct either of the parties to pay the other’s legal costs.Dirk Conradie had argued the case on behalf of Mrs Conradie.George Coleman, instructed by MB de Klerk & Associates, represented Tjijorokisa.The late Nokokure Karuaihe had directed that her assets be kept in a trust for her children.Tjijorokisa is the only sister of the late Nokokure Karuaihe, who died in a road accident in April 2001, only a year and four months after her husband, High Court Judge Fonnie Karuaihe, had also died in a car accident.In her will, Nokokure directed that her daughter Uajorokisa, now studying at the University of Cape Town, and sons Janee and John Paul, who are both still at school – were to benefit from a trust until they turned 25 years of age.Her sister and Mrs Conradie were to be the two trustees responsible for administering the trust.Mrs Conradie and her husband, Dirk Conradie, who was a partner of the late judge in the law firm that he ran before his appointment to the bench, were also to be the guardians of her children, while her sister would be their guardian if the Conradies were unable to take on that responsibility.The Conradies’ guardianship got off to a disputed start, though, when they had to sue Tjijorokisa and her mother, and sisters of the late judge to force them to hand the children to the guardians that their mother had chosen for them.By February this year, Mrs Conradie again approached the High Court with an urgent application, this time asking the court to order Tjijorokisa’s removal as a trustee.Mrs Conradie claimed that Tjijorokisa had prevented the proper running of the trust through frequent absences from Namibia, leading to a situation where the urgent financial needs of some of the children could not be met from the trust.Because, she claimed, Tjijorokisa could not be reached to authorise payments from the trust.On the evidence before him, this had not been the case, Judge Mainga found.In his judgement, he said that it was clear that whenever Tjijorokisa was asked to authorise a payment from the trust, she had acceded to the request after she had studied the documents on the request and had been satisfied that the payment was necessary.At worst, Mrs Conradie had proven inconvenience or a misunderstanding between herself and Tjijorokisa, but this was not sufficient reason to warrant the removal of a trustee, the Judge noted.The judge also referred to a lawyer’s letter that had been placed before the court, and which set out the terms of an agreement reached between Mrs Conradie and Tjijorokisa in April this year aimed at getting them to agree on arrangements for their further joint administration of the trust.”The parties would have to seriously sort out their misunderstandings (which I assume they have, when regard is had (to the letter)) and administer the trust in the best interest of the beneficiaries,” Judge Mainga remarked at the end.He did not direct either of the parties to pay the other’s legal costs.Dirk Conradie had argued the case on behalf of Mrs Conradie.George Coleman, instructed by MB de Klerk & Associates, represented Tjijorokisa.