Concourt confirms landmark PE case

A PORT Elizabeth woman can finally move on with her life after the Constitutional Court dismissed an application for leave to appeal against a decision granting her a share of her ex-partner's assets.

Nomsa Mncora, 50, spent much of her adult life raising Grahamstown businessman Andrew Butters's children and supporting him while he built up his business. But in 2008 he married another woman in secret and Mncora was none the wiser until a year later when she reportedly walked in on them together.

Six years of turmoil followed, much of the time spent in court while Butters tried to have her evicted from their former family home.

Finally, last month, the Constitutional Court confirmed what the Port Elizabeth High Court and the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) already knew; that Mncora was indeed entitled to a slice of the pie.

"I am very happy. It is just taking a while to sink in because in the past every time I won a case he [Butters] would take it to a higher court," she said yesterday.

Butters, owner of Hi-Tech Security in Grahamstown, did not comment.

Mncora, wearing a bright yellow skirt, smiles as she tells her story. But the pain is still visible in her eyes.

Butters approached the Port Elizabeth court in November 2010 to have Mncora evicted from their former family home. In turn, Mncora sued him for her part of the assets generated during their life partnership and for damages arising from his secret marriage to another woman.

Judge Dayalin Chetty ruled that Mncora was entitled to 30% of Butters's net asset value as at January 1 2008. He dismissed Butters's application to have Mncora evicted from the Summerstrand home. - Kathryn Kimberley