It is going to be a cold winter for Markus Jooste’s girlfriend and lover, Berdine Odendaal, after the South African Reserve Bank (Sarb) seized close to R60 million in assets and cash from the mistress.
According to Fundi Tshazibana, the Deputy Governor of the Prudential Cluster of the Sarb, the funds and property under the name of Odendaal have been forfeited to the State.
Jooste died by suicide in March, allegedly as law enforcement authorities were about to institute an arrest.
So what was taken?
The amount of R12,402,000, being capital standing to the credit of Odendaal, held with Absa Bank.
The amount of R26,580,000, being capital standing to the credit of Odendaal, held again with Absa.
The amount of R1,118,110.93, being capital standing to the credit of Odendaal, held at Capitec Bank.
The amount of R998,015.80, being capital standing to the credit of Odendaal, held again in Capitec.
The amount of R1,113,354.02, being capital standing to the credit of Odendaal, held in a Standard Bank account.
The SARB has also taken a property in the luxury estate, Val De Vie, in the Western Cape that is valued at R18 million.
This comes to more than R42.2 million in cash from the various bank accounts.
Where could these fund have come from?
Jooste, who took his life earlier this year, paid 12 loans to Odendaal over a period of time to the value of R60.5 million from his horse-racing business company called Mayfair Speculators.
The Reserve Bank placed a preservation order on these funds back in May 2021 which led to a court battle between Odendaal and the SARB over who has ownership of these funds.
In February, Odendaal filed a court application with the Supreme Court on Appeal (SCA), asking the SARB to give her R150,000 a month to cover her expenses.
She claimed that she needed R70,000 in order to stable her polo ponies, R10,000 a month for her beauty treatments, vitamins and make-up, R5,000 for clothing and R4,000 to pay her domestic worker.
According to reports, Odendaal is not destitute - she has a house in Pretoria and a stand at Mabalingwe Nature Reserve in Limpopo. The Reserve Bank have not stated whether these properties will be seized soon.
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