The protracted legal battle between the mistress and the wife of the late former Cope President Moisoua Lekota will now be fought in the backyard of his Bloemfontein hometown in the Free State.
Africa Daily can exclusively reveal that Lekota’s paramour, Luzelle Adams, has filed papers in the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein, where she is challenging Pretoria High Court Judge Anthony Miller’s decision to dismiss her leave to appeal his previous judgment.
In May 2026, Miller denied Adams leave to appeal his earlier judgment, which he granted in favour of Lekota’s wife, Cynthia Lekota, on 23 March 2026.
In his earlier judgment, Miller ruled that Lekota, who died in March 2026 at the age of 77, had been mentally incapable of managing his affairs during the final months of his life. This was after Cynthia approached the court over concerns that more than R2 million had been withdrawn from his accounts. In court papers, Cynthia said that when she visited her husband in January, he could no longer explain the state of their finances, medical aid, or investments.
She said he was unable to explain why monthly payments of R5,000 to her had stopped and could not remember details of his bank accounts, financial advisers, usernames, or passwords.
The court also heard that Adams received payments of R1,084,725 and R600,000 at a time when Lekota was no longer fully capable of managing his affairs. The court also found that after Lekota’s son, Kotane Lekota, was appointed interim curator of the estate, Adams transferred R150,000 to herself and paid R250,000 from the estate to her lawyers.
Miller ruled that Adams lived with Lekota and accompanied him to medical appointments and, as such, she was fully aware of medical findings regarding his deteriorating condition.
He further said medical reports later obtained by the court-appointed curator, a Mr Du Preez, showed that Lekota had suffered severe cognitive decline after a stroke in April 2025. Another specialist later concluded that Lekota had been unable to manage his legal and financial affairs since May 2025 and required protective measures.
The judge said Lekota was married in community of property to Cynthia and therefore their assets formed part of a joint estate. However, he said Adams continued to transact on accounts linked to that estate.
Miller said Adams did not deny that Lekota lacked mental capacity from May 2025 onwards, nor had she challenged the medical findings relating to his condition.
Adams had approached the court seeking leave to appeal the previous ruling that granted a declaratory order regarding Lekota’s mental state and also ordered her to pay costs. One of her arguments was that the application should not have been brought by the curator and that the court had misunderstood the nature of the proceedings. However, Miller dismissed that argument, saying Adams appeared unwilling to accept that she had no claim over the joint estate.
The court acknowledged Adams may potentially pursue a maintenance claim on behalf of her minor child against Lekota’s portion of the estate. However, Miller said that issue could only be determined after the estate itself had been wound up.
Dismissing Adams’ application for leave to appeal, Miller said he was not convinced another court would reach a different conclusion. Miller ordered Adams to pay Cynthia Lekota’s legal costs.
In the appeal papers, which Africa Daily has seen, Adams’s lawyer, Lutendo Siphuma of SL Attorneys, said his client was served with more than 700 pages of court papers less than 24 hours before the hearing, making it impossible to properly prepare a response.
He said the application was heard just two days after Lekota’s death, while Adams was grieving and emotionally distressed. He said Adams’ request for a postponement was refused, despite her needing more time to study the allegations and medical reports.
Siphuma also said the High Court failed to consider new evidence Adams wanted to present, which he says could have changed the outcome of the case.
He said she believes the matter was wrongly treated as an “extremely urgent” application when there was no real emergency.
Siphuma said Adams further argues that the curators no longer had the legal authority to continue with the case after Lekota died, because no executor of his estate had yet been appointed.
He said his client disputes the finding that Lekota lacked mental capacity and says she was denied the opportunity to challenge the medical evidence and call her own experts.
She contends that the costs order against her was unfair, particularly because she says she was also acting on behalf of her minor child, he added.
Siphuma maintains that refusing Adams leave to appeal would amount to a miscarriage of justice and deny her constitutional right to a fair hearing.
Speaking to Africa Daily Siphuma said they are confident the appeal court will arrive at a different conclusion. “Yes we are very much confident that the appeal will succeed. The judge misdirected himself in so many ways as contained in our appeal papers and a different court or an appeal court will grant a different and favourable outcome to my client. We have a very strong case for the appeal to succeed, “ he said.
