High court dismisses actress’s R87,000 maintenance bid

The Johannesburg high court has dismissed a renowned actress and TV presenter’s urgent application for interim maintenance from her estranged DJ and singer/songwriter husband.

Acting judge Sanet van Aswegen ruled against the actress and media personality’s application this week after finding that she failed to honestly and fully disclose her finances, which made it impossible for the court to accurately calculate her true financial needs while their divorce, filed in September 2025, is being finalised.

The former couple, who got married on January 10 2014, out of community of property, have one minor child, a DJ who is visually impaired.

According to the court papers seen by TshisaLIVE, the minor’s medical bills and venture into the music scene initially placed their household under financial strain, which caused the husband to fall into debt, falling behind on car payments and being sued by a former property partner over his unpaid bond.

The estranged wife alleged she had to rely on credit cards and borrow money to survive, including taking out a microloan, which she is struggling to repay.

Evidence submitted by the DJ, backed by another popular internationally-acclaimed DJ, showed that the latter stepped in to assist the family by paying the son’s prosthetic eye bill amounting to about R100,000, bought a Volvo XC60 for the woman and a Porsche Cayenne for the husband.

Additionally, the friend sent the woman money to create a steady income profile for the family so they could secure a home loan.

“Through the assistance of my close friend, we were able to live a comfortable life. He assisted us with school fees for the kids and sometimes even bought luxury bags, shoes and perfumes for my wife. I also made sure the household expenses were taken care of,” the husband said.

“We didn’t want for anything. He enjoyed buying me luxury bags, shoes, expensive perfume. I drove the Porsche mostly, over the last year. Always had my nails and hair done and made sure all the kids had everything they needed,” the wife said.

Since the commencement of divorce proceedings, the husband has been sending R5,000 for maintenance to his estranged wife while she claims her monthly expenses total R65,850-R87,000 for herself and R21,700 for their son.

The woman had alleged her husband fired her from a R100,000-per-month role as a manageress after they parted ways, leaving her unemployed and in financial distress.

However the acting judge identified several contradictions, including that she failed to disclose R262,000 in earnings she received between April and May 2025 for her presenter gig on a TV show and that their marital home was registered solely in her name and was completely paid off.

Van Aswegen noted that exaggerating expenses directly undermined the administration of justice, stating that because the woman failed to fully disclose her earnings, her true financial means could not be verified.

While the woman claimed that her estranged husband was employed by the internationally-acclaimed DJ as his international tour manager and right-hand man, the husband denied the claims — saying they did not have a formal contract but that he was offered a R49,230 operational fee for a three-day run per week to fill in as a stop-gap DJ when needed.

The husband will now continue to pay R5,000 per month towards the maintenance of their minor child.

TshisaLIVE attempted to contact the woman by phone and WhatsApp for comment but was unable to reach her at the time of publication.

TshisaLIVE also reached out to the husband’s attorney for comment. Their response will be added once received.

The couple have not been named because the media is not allowed by law to name parties in a divorce action unless they obtain consent from them.

TshisaLIVE