Ex-Joburg mayor's widow battles Standard Bank over R2. 25m BMW X5 claim

IOL News

16-07-2025

The widow of late former Johannesburg mayor Jolidee Matongo, who died in an accident in September 2021, is fighting to force Standard Bank to settle the more than R2.22 million he still owes for the 2020 BMW X5 Drive 30DM Sport bought through the financial institution.
Image: Bhekikhaya Mabaso / Independent Newspapers
Late former Johannesburg mayor Jolidee Matongo's widow is fighting Standard Bank's decision to refuse to settle the R2.25 million BMW X5 for which he owed more than R2.22m.
At the time of his death in September 2021, Matongo had not taken credit life cover on the vehicle.
Standard Bank financed the BMW X5 Drive 30DM Sport 2020 bought from Supertech Shelly Beach on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast in June 2021 for just over R2.25m.
In the fight to force the bank to pay, it has since emerged that Matongo had a straight life cover policy but not credit life insurance.
A month after Matongo died in a car accident on the Golden Highway near Lenasia, south of Joburg, his widow, Kedibone Matongo, approached Standard Bank to lodge a claim.
In April the following year, she received communication from the bank advising her that there was no credit life cover on the vehicle and that the total amount outstanding on the vehicle was just above R2.22m.
Former Joburg mayor Jolidee Matongo.
Image: City of Joburg / Facebook
Kedibone received a R2m payout for life cover, and Standard Bank also informed her that her late husband declined or opted not to take credit life cover for the vehicle.
The bank also stated that he also signed an agreement confirming that the benefits of credit insurance were fully explained to him and that unless the costs of the credit expressly provided otherwise, he had chosen not to take out such insurance.
The bank also indicated that her husband was given the option to take credit life cover but chose not to and instead undertook to make his own arrangements. Unhappy with the bank's decision, Kedibone took the matter to the Office of the Ombud for Financial Services Providers (FAIS Ombud).
However, the FAIS Ombud dismissed her complaint, and she referred the matter to the Financial Services Tribunal.
In September 2023, the tribunal also dismissed Kedibone's application for leave to have the matter reconsidered as there were no prospects of success, and due to her underlying claim exceeding R800,000, which was the limit of the ombud's jurisdiction at the time.
Undeterred, she took her fight to the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, which, in October last year, reviewed and set aside the tribunal's ruling and referred the matter back to it (tribunal) for reconsideration by a new panel.
On Tuesday, the tribunal, whose panel members were retired judges Malesela Legodi, Dennis Davis, and senior counsel Sandile Khumalo, dismissed the latest application for reconsideration.
During the tribunal, Kedibone had argued that credit life cover was taken and paid for every month until her husband's death and that the total vehicle costs included a premium for the credit life cover.
The tribunal found that she was mistaken.
'The bank is alleged to have failed to ensure that the complainant's (Kedibone's) late husband understood his rights and obligations and the risk and costs associated with not taking credit life cover in relation to the vehicle in question.
'This is speculative and without the facts upon which the allegation is based,' the panel explained.
It found that twice Matongo opted not to take credit life cover – first when he completed contractual documents at the dealer's place of business and secondly when he completed and signed the instalment sale agreement with Standard Bank.
Kedibone had submitted that in terms of the National Credit Act, her husband was within his rights to refuse the insurance offer by the third party (the dealer) on account of organising his own, and that legislative option by him cannot be said to be a refusal of an insurance policy offered by Standard Bank.
'The decision by the first respondent (FAIS Ombud) that he (Matongo) was offered by the second respondent (Standard Bank) and refused the offer stands to be reconsidered and set aside,' she stated.
Kedibone's legal representatives Adolff Attorneys did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
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