Pretoria - The Embassy of Haiti in South Africa is due to have its movable assets returned to it, after the high court in Pretoria on Monday overturned an earlier order allowing for the assets to be attached and stored, pending the outcome of a rent dispute.
Haitian ambassador Stephan D’Ennery Dejoie was surprised a week-and-a-half ago by the sheriff who entered the embassy in Main Street, Waterkloof, armed with a court order.
While Dejoie was entertaining several ambassadors of other countries at the time, the sheriff went ahead and attached the furniture and other assets belonging to the embassy.
This followed an urgent and behind-closed-doors application from the widow of property mogul Tami Sokutu.
Nosisi Sokutu claimed the embassy owed her about R550 000 in rent arrears. She brought the urgent application without notifying the embassy as she feared it would possibly hide its assets, which would make it difficult for her and the executor of her husband’s estate to retrieve the alleged arrears.
Counsel for the embassy on Friday argued that it enjoyed diplomatic immunity and that the court was wrong to issue a provisional order attaching its assets.
Dejoie, in a statement before court, said this not only tarnished his and the embassy’s good reputation but caused an embarrassment to him, but it was also unlawful.
To suggest that he or the embassy would thwart the legal process in South Africa was careless and reckless, he said.
Dejoie gave the court the assurance that the embassy fully planned to adhere to its obligations regarding the rent.
He said he had been in correspondence throughout with Tami Sokutu while he was still alive regarding the rent and how much should be deducted for repairs.
The court was told that the embassy upgraded the premises, which according to the ambassador, was in a state of disrepair when he moved in. He said the agreement was that the embassy would from August again pay the full rental of R55 000 a month and that the previous few months’ rental was used towards the work done at the premises.
According to Dejoie, Sokutu’s widow was fully aware of the agreement and subsequent correspondence between the embassy and her husband.
Judge Peter Mabuse on Monday discharged the attachment order without giving reasons. He said reasons would be provided to counsel if they asked. He also did not rule on the question whether the embassy enjoyed diplomatic immunity.
Attorney Rob Hardam, acting for the embassy, said he and Mario Coetzee, acting for the landlord, would take instructions from their clients as to the way forward.
“We will see if we can try to resolve the dispute.
“We (the embassy) will comply with our obligations. We will sit around a table and hammer it out,” Hardam told the Pretoria News.
Pretoria News