Cape Town – With a luxury home in Camps Bay and estate at stake, the fiancée, Heleen Fortuin, and son, Donovan Powell, of the late business mogul who owned several Pick ‘n Pay stores in the North West, Peter Powell, are reportedly intertwined in a battle for what Powell left behind.
Powell reportedly died of cancer at one of his homes in Gauteng in February this year.
According to the Weekend Argus, he also owned the four-star Atlantic Affair Boutique Hotel in Sea Point, where he met his fiance, and a three-story mansion in Camps Bay.
While Donovan attempts to renovate the house to turn it into a bed and breakfast dwelling, Fortuin locks herself in the bedroom adamant to fight for the house that her fiance left behind.
An eviction notice to get Fortuin out of the house was reportedly submitted to the Western Cape High Court and is expected to be heard in April.
Weekend Argus further reported that other assets include two red Ferraris, several properties, the Sea Point hotel, and other pricey memorabilia.
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Earlier this year, Fortuin took to social media to express the pain she felt about losing her fiance, posting a video montage of her and Powell’s moments together to Facebook.
“You are my heart, my life, my love. You were the kindest, sweetest person I had the honour of knowing. I was blessed to be loved by you, and you gave yourself to me unselfishly,”
“The hardest thing I have had to endure is losing you. You were and will always be my person. No-one will ever be able to fill your shoes. I love you Peter Powell,” she said in the caption of the post.
Fortuin said the people who are supposed to be renovating the house are not doing so. Instead, she says, they are eating her food and using the resources in the house.
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“I keep myself barricaded in my bedroom. I don’t speak to these men. They are not even renovating the house,” she reportedly said.
“They ate my cereal, tinned and frozen food, yoghurt and drank my milk.
“They also used electricity and for a few days we lived in darkness,” she was reported as saying.
Fortuin held strong romantic feelings towards her late husband, however, Donavon alleged that his late father only ‘used her for sex’.
“My dad had a string of other women, he just used Heleen for sex.
“I have seen text messages where my dad denied being engaged to her when asked by one of his lovers. I have his phone, she doesn’t know it yet,” he was quoted as saying.
“I will even go for a lie detector test to show that I did not alter my father’s signature on the will. All we want as a family is just to move on with our lives,” Donovan reportedly added.
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Picture: Facebook/ Heleen M Fortuin
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Compiled by Junaid Benjamin
