Durban - A man has failed in his bid to to evict his 78-year-old aunt from her Mount Royal home, arguing he was entitled to the house.
Mngcineni Ngcobo had brought the eviction application against his aunt, Thembisile, in the Verulam Magistrate’s Court, soon after she moved into the house as a beneficiary of a government housing project in Mount Royal.
This week, the Verulam Magistrate’s Court ruled in the pensioner’s favour, saying she was not an unlawful occupier of her home and could not be evicted through the Prevention of Illegal Eviction From and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act.
According to Mngcineni’s court papers, he lives in KwaMashu with his wife and children. He claimed to be the registered owner of the house in Mount Royal that he acquired through a KwaMashu L-Section Redevelopment Project, where he made a successful application for a government housing subsidy.
He also claimed his aunt knew he had applied for this subsidy and that she had been updating him with other information required, as she was home when meetings were called about the progress of the housing project.
The nephew argued that when all the applications were approved and people were told to move in, his aunt did so in 2009 without informing him and without his authority as the rightful and lawful owner of the property.
He said he had sent her eviction notices and had tried “tirelessly to engage” with her and those who live with her, but they had failed to move.
Faced with this legal action, the illiterate woman, who is fluent only in isiZulu, sought help from the Legal Resources Centre (LRC).
In an affidavit they prepared on her behalf, she explained that her sister-in-law, Mngcineni’s mother, Makazi, owned a house in KwaMashu L-section and that Makazi’s husband, Mngcineni’s father, Ernest, had bought another property in KwaMashu in 1990 which they had moved into.
Makazi then invited the pensioner and her family to live in the house in L-section, where she continued to live for 15 years until she moved to her current home.
During 2002 and 2003, she said residents in L-section were informed about the roll-out of a new housing project in KwaMashu.
Those who occupied houses in L-section and wanted to become beneficiaries for the Mount Royal Housing Project had to register with the housing committee, which she did.
In 2005, she was allocated a house and moved in. She lives there with two daughters, four grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and her mentally and physically disabled niece. She is the sole breadwinner.
A few days later, she said Mngcineni arrived with his father and demanded that she and her family move out, saying the house belonged to him.
“I refused and told him that the Mount Royal property was allocated to me,” her affidavit read.
He left, but returned a few days later with the ward councillor and housing project manager, who both apparently informed him he did not qualify to be a beneficiary and that he could not evict Thembisile.
She said he returned again in 2006 with the same outcome. She did not hear from him again until she had received his court papers.
In September last year, she had approached the housing project manager for clarity on the allocation of this house, and was shown a letter stating her nephew had fraudulently registered himself as the beneficiary in the project.
Thembisile also said her nephew was not being entirely honest with the court as he did not disclose he was the registered owner of a property in P-section, KwaMashu.
The LRC said as the Magistrate’s court lacked jurisdiction to compel the Department of Human Settlements to register Thembisile as lawful owner of the property, they were making enquiries about how to do so.
Daily News