Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has ordered his department to urgently comply with a November court order which would allow a minor child to qualify for an R8m overseas inheritance.

TimesLIVE on Friday reported that the girl stood to lose out on the money because Home Affairs had refused to comply with a court order to amend her birth certificate.

The order was granted in November last year.

The attorneys acting for the girl’s mother have launched an urgent application in the KZN High Court (Pietermaritzburg), seeking to declare the Minister and DG in contempt and putting them on terms to say why they should not be jailed for 30 days or fined.

The child, who hails from a rural area in KZN, is embroiled in an international inheritance battle for the estate of a wealthy German woman – the mother of deceased Unisa law Professor Hans Schulze.

He was involved in a five-year relationship with the child’s mother and, just before he died from cancer early last year, they married in a civil ceremony.

Motsoaledi said in a statement on Friday night that he had ‘learnt with anger’ that officials in his department showed a ‘flagrant disregard of a court order’.

'The Minister believes that the mother of the minor child ought not to have been forced to approach the courts of law in the first place. Motsoaledi instructed the officials of the department to comply with the court order … amend the birth certificate of the minor child forthwith. Indeed, the birth certificate has been amended and the mother of the child has been informed accordingly,’ the department said.

Full TimesLIVE report

The birth certificate had to be amended to reflect Schulze as her father.

An earlier TimesLIVE report notes the Schulze was involved in a five-year relationship with the child’s mother and, just before he died early last year, they married in a civil ceremony.

In the initial court application, it was stated that Schulze had adopted the girl in terms of 'cultural laws'.

He paid R60,000 lobola at a traditional ceremony and, in terms of Zulu custom, the child was 'handed over to him' with the blessing of the extended family, the biological father and traditional leaders and in the presence of an executor of his estate.

The adoption agreement was then reduced to writing.

While it was his intention to formally adopt her, he died, leaving his assets to his wife and the child.

Schulze's mother died in Germany eight months later, leaving behind about €400,000 which was claimed by a local doctor, who alleged he was her life partner.

In terms of German inheritance law, a descendant can inherit, even if they are not named in a will. But the court in Germany insisted that the child’s birth certificate reflect Schulze as her father, which would entitle her to German citizenship and place her as a direct descendant of the Schulze family and heiress to the estate.

The hearing in Germany to decide on who should inherit was put on hold until April this year.

While the German court had been 'gracious', it now required that the documents be filed before 24 August 'after which the court will finalise the matter with or without the documentation'.

Full TimesLIVE report