Edwin sodi

Businessman Edwin Sodi has a vast net worth.
Image via Twitter @SAcrimefighters

Edwin Sodi’s estranged wife drags him to court over MILLIONS

Edwin Sodi’s estranged wife, Nthateng Lerata, claims the scandal-plagued construction mogul owes her millions of rands

Edwin sodi

Businessman Edwin Sodi has a vast net worth.
Image via Twitter @SAcrimefighters

The estranged wife of controversial businessman Edwin Sodi has approached the courts, in a bid to force him to pay millions of rands she believes are due to her.

According to Sunday World, Sodi and Nthateng Lerata entered into an agreement, which would have seen the Blackhead Consulting director fork out a whopping R20 million to her for the role she played in helping build his business empire.

ALSO READ: Businessman Edwin Sodi hands himself over to police over alleged assault

EDWIN SODI’S ESTRANGED WIFE DEMANDING R20 MILLION

The tabloid has cited a source close to Edwin Sodi and Nthateng Lerata as saying the couple were married in a customary marriage in 2012 in the Free State after his parents agreed to pay R30 000 lobola for her. Despite Sodi’s supposed millions, his parents only paid R3 000, with the promise to pay the remaining R27 000 later.

The customary marriage took place just two years before Sodi’s company scored that lucrative R255 million asbestos contract.

The couple were reportedly equal partners in their business ventures, which include Blackhead Consulting, Blackhead Investment and Phirie Construction.

“She [Lerata] said they agreed if their partnership or marriage comes to end, they will equally share assets and profit generated from the business partnership,” said the source.

Lerata reportedly said a family trust was later created into which assets of their joint estate or their partnership were transferred. Sodi then apparently violated the terms of their partnership in 2016 and moved out of their marital home in Bryanston.

“She [Lerata] said R10-million was supposed to have been paid to her by end of last year, but it was not. When the payment failed, she told him that the settlement agreement is null and void and wants to take the matter to court,” the source said.

Earlier this year, Sodi handed himself over to authorities after he allegedly tried to fire a gun at a man he had found with Lerata at their home in Bryanston. He tried shooting at him, but the gun apparently jammed. Sodi is then reported to have fled to his other home in Sandton.

He iscurrently out on R500 000 bail after he was arrested on corruption charges in 2020. Sodi along with about a dozen people face a string of charges, including racketeering and money laundering, in relation to a lucrative asbestos tender that was awarded to his company Blackhead Consulting and Diamond Hill, whose owner is the late Ignatius Mpambani. Ace Magashule was Free State premier at the time.