‘Broke’ Joost leaves family ‘a shotgun and too little cash’

According to Afrikaans Sunday paper Rapport, late Springbok star Joost van der Westhuizen has left his widow Amor confused about why he allegedly failed to make provision for his family.

The paper reports that his estate appears to consist of little more than a “trailer, a shotgun, two watches and a few cents that are apparently not enough to cover the estate duty”.

Rapport says it saw an inventory list suggesting that very little remains of Van der Westhuizen’s wealth, the majority of which was made up of a house that he owned 50% of with his estranged wife.

The rest reportedly comprises rugby memorabilia and less than R90 000 in cash.

Amor asked the paper where Joost’s pension fund and life insurance had gone.

The Van der Westhuizen family spokesperson Odette Schwegler, however, said that Joost had also left the J9 Trust to his two children. It owns two townhouses providing an income of R18 000 per month.

Amor’s spokesperson, however, said this amount is not enough considering their children are in private schools, their son needs medical attention for hearing problems and Joost bought his daughter a horse, which is expensive to maintain.

Amor alleged that the Van der Westhuizen family had not kept her in the loop on financial matters they had access to, which was why the power to their home was apparently cut off.

She also wants to know whether there are any life insurance policies for Joost that she may not know about.

Schwegler said the family had sent all account numbers to Amor’s legal team “a few weeks ago”.

The paper did not go into detail about what the cost of the many experimental treatments Joost had sought out may have been, but he travelled as far the US to try to treat or even cure his motor neuron disease.

However, there is no known cure or effective treatment for the condition that claimed his life in February this year.