Tanzania court invalidates Reginald Mengi’s will

The High Court of Tanzania has invalidated a will written by the late IPP Group billionaire Reginald Mengi.

In a ruling on May 18, Judge Yose Mlyambina said the will, which appointed four people, Benson Benjamin Mengi, William Onesmo Mushi, Zoebu Hassuji and Sylvia Novatus Mushi as trustees, did not meet the legal requirements to be regarded as a valid will.

The four, according to The Citizen, had filed a suit seeking nomination to be administrators of the businessman’s estate following his death in 2019 in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, where he had been receiving treatment for an undisclosed condition. The media magnate was 75.

Mengi’s son, Abdiel Reginald Mengi and his brother, Benjamin Abraham Mengi, however, filed an objection against the will, which among others, bequeathed the deceased’s estate, estimated by Forbes to be worth Sh60 billion ($560m) in 2014, to his widow, singer-turned entrepreneur Jacqueline Ntuyabaliwe Mengi and his twin sons.

They argued that the will was not sealed, bore a signature different from the one used by the billionaire, who at the time of his death had interests in manufacturing, mining and media through his conglomerate IPP Group, and was not witnessed by any of the businessman's relative or wife.

The two noted that Mengi had no capacity to draw the purported will in 2016 due to ill health, and that it removes from the inheritance the deceased’s other children. 

Abdiel and Abraham contested that the will complicated the duty to uphold the family name and legacy by those who have been disinherited.

The court agreed with the arguments against the will and declared it invalid.

Judge Mlyambina consequently appointed Abdiel and Abraham as trustees and "directed the estate of the deceased to be distributed to the appropriate heirs in a manner of a person who did not leave a will’.

Jacqueline Ntuyabaliwe's application to be enjoined in the case was rejected.