On Saturday 30 September 2023 the Nedbank auditorium in Sandton erupted into thunderous cheers and applause as the fourth instalment of the I am Lady Justice workshop hosted by Sister In Law began. The I am Lady Justice workshop is an empowering, insightful, and fun event which educates women on basic legal principles pertaining to marriage, divorce, child maintenance, wills, and deceased estates. Founder, Tebello Motshwane, shared how the Sister In Law platform was inspired by her keen interest in how women can better equip themselves with legal principles pertaining to various domestic and family law issues.

The event tone was set by the inspiring spoken word of poet Nyeleti Rikhotso who encouraged every Lady Justice in the room to step into her power and own her femininity.

This instalment of the workshop was once again powered by Private Clients from Nedbank as a headline sponsor. Nedbank Female Economy Senior Manager: Strategic Projects and Integration, Nonji Motlhetlhi anchored the conversation in the basics around the female economy. Nedbank’s flag-ship project, ‘The Female Economy,’ is anchored in research around the lived experience of women in South Africa and globally.

Motlhetlhi shared that Nedbank has recognized the need to structure the Nedbank value proposition and offering differently for women. The offering is centered around four key pillars:

1. Women are great savers. Nedbank recognizes how stokvels are set up and that women inherently understand the need to save and make their money go further.
2. Women are prudent borrowers, women are not risk averse, they are risk aware. That helps in the way women handle Statistics show that women have a lower credit default risk, reflectingdifferently in the books than their male counterparts.
3. Women buy more. Women are chief purchasing officers in most households.
4. Women are loyal. Women are more likely to be sticky and present in spaces. Organizations like banks want a client that they can be there for and use their spending habits to curate spending experiences for them.

She and colleague, Lulama Robertson, Responsible Investment Analyst from Nedgroup Investments, emphasized the importance of women being deliberate and taking control over money matters and setting themselves up for financial success. Robertson highlighted the steps one can take to invest and take care of one’s finances well, in preparation for retirement.

Motshwane shared on the requirements of a customary marriage and detailed the features of the three marriage regimes: in community of property, out of community of property with accrual, out of community of property without accrual. She educated the audience on the consequences of having lobola negotiations before concluding a marriage contract and stated how critical it is to be assertive and clear when making decisions around marriage regimes.

As a segway from marriage contracts, Kholofelo Mashitisho shone a light on various scenarios that can often emerge during messy divorces. She detailed the options available to women in the event of divorce; from which court to consult and what kind of process to expect during divorce proceedings.

Child maintenance, a topical issue amongst single mothers in South Africa, was covered by Advocate Tumelo Loabile-Rantao. She illustrated a situation many women find themselves in – finding love and having children, then later breaking up with said partner and needing to bear the brunt of the financial costs associated with raising your child alone. Loabile-Rantao provided options around child maintenance and empowered women on the process around claiming child maintenance should they ever need to claim. The education around this issue is limited and the crowd was highly engaged.

Wills and Deceased Estates was covered by the highly talented Almar Gumbo. Gumbo carefully unpacked multiple examples of what can happen when (deceased) estates are poorly managed. The real-life examples she shared helped ground the audience in the realities of mismanaged or contested estates. The dire circumstances of not having a will, for example, served as a ‘reality check’ for many. She shared practical tools and steps one can adopt to get ‘get your affairs in order before you die’.

The event ended off with a musical item by KeMpho and the Band, followed by an engaging networking session. The ladies in attendance were gifted with mouth-watering food and an overflow of bubbly and refreshments. All in all, the workshop prompted the women in attendance to strongly consider engaging professionals for legal or financial insights and information.

A special thank you to the organizations who partnered with Sister In Law to make this workshop the success that it was: Nedbank (headline sponsor); Motsoeneng Bill Attorneys Incorporated (silver sponsor); RAMS Attorneys (bronze sponsor); KIA Motors Weltevreden Park dealership; Gorgeous Sparkling Wine; Poise Swimwear; Izimbali by Mbali; LashedByLee; A* Cognoscenti; Home of Nula.

Authored by:

Mpinane Mahlatji (Management Consultant)

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mpinane-senkhane