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It’s not easy being Berdine Odendaal at present.

The woman who has come to be known as disgraced former Steinhoff CEO Markus Jooste’s younger lover is fighting battles on a number of legal fronts.

Recently, via documents from court cases, it was revealed that she was claiming expenses of R200 000 a month and pulling in around R150 00 a month.

What she does for a living is anybody’s guess but she was given north of R60 million from Jooste’s horse racing company, Mayfair Speculators, between 2011 and 2015.

In a rather embarrassing and costly legal faux pas, Odendaal’s legal action against the SA Reserve Bank (SARB), which last year blocked her accounts and attached some of her assets, has backfired spectacularly.

Fin24 has the story:

The bank’s case against Odendaal is laid out in court documents detailing a clash over who should pay for her legal fees.

After Odendaal’s assets and bank accounts were attached in April last year, she asked the bank to release funds for living expenses…

Image: Polo Lady Mag

The two sides eventually hashed out what the bank described as an “undertaking” in June last year. It would release R150 000 monthly from one of her blocked accounts for all “reasonable” expenses.

So far so good. Even with claims of ‘pony costs’ totalling R70 000 a month, ‘hair, makeup, beauty, beauty supplements and healthcare’ of R10 000 a month, and ‘clothing’ costs of R5 000, Odendaal wouldn’t be slumming it.

But then she went one step further and things unravelled:

In February, Odendaal initiated legal action against the bank in an effort to force it to pay her legal bills…

But the court action appears to have backfired. By initiating the legal action, the bank says that Odendaal “repudiated” the undertaking with the bank to allow her access to R150 000 a month.

It has now stopped paying any funds to Odendaal and cancelled the agreement.

In a further repudiation, SARB also stated that the bank account from which the funds were being withdrawn was almost empty.

To quote a timeless South African proverb, ag shame, man.

If SARB fails to declare the assets forfeited by the end of April 2024, everything will be returned to Odendaal along with interest accrued.

Is Jooste able to find some spare change tucked down the side of his couch to tide her over for now? Failing that, maybe she can start a GoFundMe so that she can continue to live her so-called lavish lifestyle without being gainfully employed.

[source:fin24]