The Mbedzi family of Tshidzini village is living in poverty, as the Department of Justice has wrongfully issued their estate money to another family. They wait in the hope that the matter will be resolved, but after three years, nothing has been done to their account.

The amount of the estate was R113 187, 25.

The family said that they have been waiting for a long time to get something that will help them to improve their family’s standard of living, but the office of the magistrate kept on dragging its feet with the estate, until it was wrongly issued.

Two wives and three children say they are living like paupers since the death of the husband, Alfred Mbedzi, in 2003 after a long illness. Before his death, he owned one taxi, which is now not in a good condition that they can use it to earn a living. They said that if they could get their money, they would get a taxi and return to the transport business.

His death affect them as he was the only breadwinner, but today do not even have bread like they used to. The family had been waiting for more than two years while they were told that they had to wait for the file to be processed, but on May 28, 2004, they were shocked to find that they were looking for wealth that had been granted to another family.

Mrs Violet Mbedzi (44) said they were tired of starving, “while the department gave our money to other people”.

The family is blaming the office of the magistrate for being rude and sleeping on duty and for issuing their wealth to the wrong beneficiaries. She said that they discovered the whole story when they were given a letter from magistrate to permit them to get their estate and was told that their money was long overdue and there was no money in their account.

"It's unbelievable that they gave our money to the wrong people; our files numbers are not the same and even our surnames are not the same,” she said

“Now the office of magistrate told us that the family that received our money will repay it in installments and we don’t need that; it is not our duty to negotiate, as we want the full amount,” she said in tears.

Another widow of Mbedzi, Alerta (54), said she was borrowing money from other people to buy what she needs.

Alerta said now she is owing mashonisa more than R5 000 to other people and is worried about how she is going to repay them as she was hoping that she would be paid her estate money.

Another family confirmed to Mirror that they had received an amount of R113 187, 25 from the office of the magistrate, thinking that it was theirs.

A family legal representative, Henry Netshifhefhe of Netshifhefhe attorneys, said: “We have rejected the allegation by the office of the magistrate that the family is responsible for paying back the said amount.” Netshifhefhe said there was a letter from the family’s employer indicating that his estate had already been issued before the owner died.”

“We are on the process of issuing a summons to the department that they paid our clients,” he said

In a statement, the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development admitted an administrative error. Department spokesperson Sandiswa Soko said that they would sort out the problem. She said that the department would reimburse the affected family.