Reginald Mengi’s widow gets reprieve at Court of Appeal

An application by Jacqueline Ntuyabaliwe, the widow of the late Tanzanian media mogul, Reginald Mengi, that her late husband had no mental ability to make a valid Will, will be heard and determined.

This is after the Court of Appeal rejected legal challenges against the former Miss Tanzania's application seeking revision of a decision of the High Court that quashed a Will that was allegedly written by Mengi, reports The Citizen.

The IPP trailblazer and philanthropist died in Dubai, UAE, in 2019. He was 75.

The Will, purportedly made in 2017, cited Ntuyabaliwe and their twin children as the beneficiary of the billionaire businessman's wealth, estimated in 2014 by Forbes to be worth over $560 million.

While objecting to the Will, however, four petitioners - Benson Benjamin Mengi, William Onesmo Mushi, Zoeb Hassuji and Sylvia Novatus Mushi – argued that Mengi was not in the right state of mental health when making the disputed Will.

According to Mengi’s two elder children from an earlier marriage -Abdiel and Benjamin - their father had lost the capacity to prepare the purported Will due to ill health. They argued that the Will was not sealed and the signatures on it were different from that of their father.

They petitioned the court to allow them to execute the Will noting that the Will was discriminatory as it only bequeathed his estate to Ntuyabaliwe and her twin children, excluding the deceased’s other children, thus complicating their duty to uphold the family name and legacy.

The High Court agreed and nullified the Will for being invalid and unenforceable and appointed the two, Abdiel and Benjamin, as co-administrators of the estate.

Dissatisfied with the decision, Ntuyabaliwe, who was not a party to the High Court’s case and only called to give evidence in court as a witness, moved to the Court of Appeal.

In a social media post, the entrepreneur, formerly known as K-Lynn, supported the Will. She said the media magnate was of sound mind and able to make decisions about the contents of his Will.

"He wasn’t insane! You can say whatever you want and take everything but for this, I will defend him to my deathbed so make it fast. Dr Kaushik Ranchod of South Africa and Dr Anthony Rudd of Uk and Dr Valentino who gave a testimony know the truth and someone should get the truth!" she posted on social media.