Cape Town - A couple from Cloetesville who recently accused members of the municipal law enforcement of invading their privacy by spying on their intimacy using a CCTV camera will appear at the Stellenbosch Magistrate’s Court for a restorative justice session.
The court document cites Sentia Jacobs, who, with her husband Henry Moffat, complained about the “Peeping Tom” antics of the municipal officers, as the complainant in the matter against the councillor, Elsabe Vermeulen, who granted them permission to temporarily live in the Eikestad Hall in Cloetesville after they lost their home in a fire last year.
In the case they filed with the police, Jacobs and Moffat said that when they approached the councillor, she suggested they hang a curtain over the camera to prevent being spied on, but they did not feel this was helpful.
Jacobs said: “My husband and I feel it was the duty of the councillor to report the situation to the municipality. We feel our right to movement was violated and the right to privacy was violated because the cameras were not removed or disabled from the outset.”
Jacobs and Moffat have also rejected the alternative accommodation offered to them by the council.
They claim that the 6x3m wendy house in Jamestown, on the southern outskirts of Stellenbosch, is inadequate for their use and is not the dwelling they agreed to move to. They claim the house the Stellenbosch municipality originally showed them was bigger.
Stellenbosch Municipality is investigating the matter.
@MwangiGitahu