Lebo M ordered by US court to pay ex-wife’s R500k legal costs

Composer and producer Lebo M has reportedly been ordered to pay the legal fees of his ex-wife, Nandi Ndlovu-GoodJohn following their trial over royalties for the Lion King song — Sunday World reports.

LEBO M ORDERD TO PAY NANDI NDLOVU-GOODJOHN’S LEGAL FEES

The publication reports that the United States Court of Appeals ordered Lebo M to pay almost R500 000 in legal fees. These are costs Ndlovu-GoodJohn incurred in 2021 when she defeated him in a 10-year legal battle over royalties to The Lion King.

Lebo M was ordered to pay 40% of the monthly gross earnings from his work to his ex-wife — whom he married after divorcing his first wife, Vivica Gibson. But, the publication reports that he filed for bankruptcy in America in 2017.

“If any of the monthly payments to be made by Lebohang Morake to Nandi Ndlovu-GoodJohn are more than 30 days late, then the full agreed upon amount of the arrears of the $350 000 (R5.9 million) minus any payments that have been made will be due and payable,” read the Supreme Court judgement.

In addition, GoodJohn was to get a monthly amount of $100 000 (R1.9 million) from Lebo M, which later accumulated to $350 000 due to his failure to pay.

LEBO M SAYS HE ISN’T AWARE OF THE JUDGEMENT

The matter was reportedly heard by the court on 22 July 2022 and his appeal was dismissed as “frivolous”. However, Lebo M claims he is not aware of it.

“I will check with my lawyers if they are aware of such a judgment,” he told the publication when asked.

On the other hand, Ndlovu GoodJohn said she hopes this inspires people not to give up.

“To be honest I have nothing to say about the matter, however I want to inspire whoever is about to give up not to lose hope,” she said.

ALSO READ: ‘I’ve been married 4 times, not 7’: Lebo M exposes smear campaign [watch]

IS THERE A ‘SMEAR CAMPAIGN’ AGAINST THE COMPOSER?

On 19 July, Lebo M took to social media to slam an “angry, bitter ex” of his. Although he later deleted the posts, he accused his ex of starting a “smear campaign” against him after the woman allegedly flooded his Instagram with shady comments.

However, during his interview on Podcast and Chill with MacG and Sol Phenduka on 21 July, he revealed that the “angry, bitter ex” is Nandi Ndlovu-GoodJohn.

Lebo M claimed that she is behind the negative reports about him in partnership with a journalist named Theo. According to him, the aim is to always derail his positive work by painting him as a serial husband or “villain”.

Further explaining, he said it all started when their son Thembalethu died in 2003 when he was only 14 months old.

“In 2006 I then learned that my son was murdered and when I brought in investigators she fought the investigation because she was basically negligent.

“She left my 14-month-old son with a girl she had just hired and went to party with her lover… she was in a relationship with a girl that worked for me and I didn’t know. Londiwe was her lover then. So that then becomes the motive,” he explained.

He further explained that Nandi had interviewed their son’s nanny on Sunday for 10 minutes, the nanny started working on Monday and their son died the same week on Friday. At the time he said he was out of the country.

He also refuted reports that his son drowned in a swimming pool, saying his son was murdered. However, Lebo M claims that Nandi has been fighting him (even in court) about their son’s death because she does not want to accept the negligent role she played in his passing.