A former CEO of the South African Football Association (SAFA) has alleged that his wife tried to assassinate him by dousing him with petrol and attempting to burn him alive inside their matrimonial home in Joburg home.
The former CEO and his wife, an entrepreneur, are known to Africa Daily but cannot be identified at this stage for legal reasons.
The explosive allegations are contained in divorce papers before the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg, where the estranged couple are locked in a legal battle that includes the division of their estates.
According to the former CEO’s affidavit, the alleged petrol attack occurred in late October 2022 after his wife accused him of having an extramarital affair with a woman based in Polokwane.
“In this regard, the applicant attempted to kill me by throwing petrol at me and burning me alive in my main bedroom,” the former CEO alleges.
He says he managed to disarm his wife and “averted an attempt by the Applicant to kill me”.
The former CEO further claims that his wife later apologised for the incident in a recorded conversation, saying she had only been trying to scare him because she was afraid he would divorce her.
The alleged attack followed a dispute over the former CEO’s intention to attend the funeral of his second-born son’s aunt.
He says his wife objected to the visit, accusing him of being “obsessed” with his son’s mother and of being involved in an adulterous affair with her.
The former CEO says he ultimately chose not to attend that funeral and instead went to the funeral of a friend’s mother in Medingen Village, near Modjadjiskloof in Limpopo.
He alleges that, after returning from the funeral, his wife intercepted and cloned his WhatsApp messages and monitored his conversations.
In November 2022, the former CEO says he confronted his wife after discovering that she had gone through his cellphone, including his business and personal emails.
According to his affidavit, she admitted to reading his emails and his will during another recorded conversation and apologised.
“In good faith, I accepted the applicant’s apology and her undertaking to change her behaviour and conduct,” he says.
The former CEO also details another explosive incident in February 2023, when he says his wife insisted on accompanying him to the unveiling of his friend’s mother’s tombstone in Limpopo.
He alleges that when he refused to allow her to travel with him, she physically attacked him and his first-born son when they prevented her from entering his vehicle.
The former CEO says he travelled to Limpopo alone but later received a distressed call informing him that his wife needed to be rushed to hospital after allegedly overdosing on medication.
He says he abandoned his plans to spend the night in Limpopo and travelled through the night to attend to her.
His sons, he says, found their mother in the main bedroom “foaming at the mouth” before rushing her to Sunninghill Hospital for emergency medical treatment.
The former CEO says he later discovered that his wife had written a suicide note blaming him for her decision to take her own life.
He says the note referred to another woman and his former wife of manipulating her.
He also points out that the suicide note did not mention another woman, whom his wife accused him of knowing in biblical sense behind her back.
The former CEO disputes his wife’s alleged version that the couple only began discussing divorce after his relationship with the woman, who is known to Africa Daily.
He maintains that there had been discussions about divorce before that relationship and says there are no reasonable prospects of restoring the marriage.
“I am fearful of the applicant,” he says in his affidavit, alleging that his wife repeatedly reminded him that “only death will separate us”.
He further alleges that she told him during a recorded conversation that she was prepared to kill him and then kill herself.
“The applicant is very suicidal and has demonstrated that she does not care about human life,” the former CEO alleges.
He says the alleged threats, together with what he describes as his wife’s previous suicide attempt, have left him fearing for his life.
The allegations form part of the former CEO’s argument that the marriage has suffered an irretrievable breakdown and cannot be restored to a normal marital relationship.
The wife has disputed aspects of her husband’s account in the divorce proceedings.
