The order brought to an end a lengthy court battle the rugby legend and his wife Karen had with Nedbank over the payment of a mortgage on a farm in Mooikloof, Pretoria.

Last month, Botha was provisionally sequestrated in the same court. Judge Peter Mabuse gave him until June 15 to oppose the application and give reasons as to why he should not be finally sequestrated. Botha failed to do so.

Nedbank’s legal adviser Dana van Zyl said in the bank’s founding affidavit that the former four-time rugby player of the year owed the bank about R1.3 million for the property.

In January 2006, Karen obtained a bond from Nedbank to buy the property. Botha signed surety for it.

The couple failed to make regular payments, and in December 2009, the bank turned to the court to demand that they paid the money.

The two defended the matter, and it was settled after they undertook to make certain payments. “Subsequent to the conclusion of the agreement, Karen sold the property to a third party for an amount which was insufficient to repay the full amount of her and the respondent’s indebtedness to the applicant,” Van Zyl said in court papers.

Botha and his wife agreed they owed the bank and undertook to pay R17 000 from May 7, 2013, and thereafter on the seventh day of each month. The bank also waived any interest on the debt if the couple made payments timeously.

However, they fell into arrears and reached another settlement where for a period of six months, the Bothas would pay R8 500 each month. They again failed to do this.

A second order was granted for the couple to pay R8 500 per month from January 2015 and a regular monthly payment of R17 000 was agreed on to resume from July of that year. They defaulted on that too.

On November 17 last year a warrant of execution was served to Botha for the amount of just over R1m plus interest. On the same day the sheriff went to Botha’s Lynnwood Park home, but returned empty-handed.

“The said person (Botha) informed me that HE Botha had no money or disposable assets wherewith to satisfy the said writ or any portion thereof. No disposable assets were either pointed out to me or could be found after a diligent search and enquiry,” the sheriff said.

Van Zyl said that it was in the bank’s best interest to sequestrate Botha’s estate and that a trustee be appointed to investigate their financial affairs.

“It is to be noted from the statement that the respondent presented at the time to be in possession of assets to the value of R16 445 294. It bears strange indeed that all of these assets could have been dissipated within a period of five years,” Van Zyl said.

“The respondent is a sports presenter (for SuperSport) and regularly travels abroad. It is possible that the respondent may have transferred assets in the form of cash or other transferable assets out of the Republic of South Africa on such overseas travels.”

Van Zyl also noted that Botha has used five different ID numbers in his lifetime.

[Source: Pretoria News]