An application for leave to appeal by advocate Luzelle Adams, girlfriend of former Cope leader Mosiuoa Gerard Patrick Lekota, was dismissed last week after a court found she tried to conceal his deteriorating health condition for malicious reasons.

Her application stemmed from an earlier order which declared that the late Lekota was no longer mentally capable of managing his own affairs from 25 May 2025.

According to the latest judgment, Adams, who lived with Lekota, was fully aware of his condition as she accompanied him to all his medical appointments. Meanwhile, money was unlawfully withdrawn from his account.

Judge A. Millar found that Adams attempted to keep his true health condition secret by trying to prevent a medical report from a Dr Makasi from being disclosed.

“While Mr L was still alive, Adams continued to conduct transactions on his bank accounts. This while she knew he was no longer of sound mind and that any authorisation he had given her had legally lapsed,” the judgment read.

Adams emptied Lekota’s bank accounts on the same day she agreed to a court order to appoint an interim curator bonis (estate administrator) for him.

The judge described this conduct as in bad faith and selfish.

The original application was brought by Lekota’s wife, to whom he was married in community of property. She was concerned about her husband’s wellbeing and the financial management of their joint estate.

In court papers she said that when she visited her husband in January, he could no longer explain the state of their finances, medical fund or investments.

She said he was unable to explain why monthly payments of R5 000 to her had been stopped, and could not remember the details of his bank accounts, financial advisers, usernames or passwords.

Meanwhile, the court heard that Adams received payments of R1 084 725 and R600 000 at a time when Lekota was no longer fully capable of managing his own affairs.

Judge Millar found that Adams disregarded the interests of the elderly woman by dealing with assets in the joint estate without having any right to do so.

There is no reasonable prospect that another court would come to a different conclusion, the judge said. He dismissed Adams’s attempt to question the legal process on technical grounds.

The application for leave to appeal was refused with costs.

Adams was ordered to pay the legal costs on a punitive scale.