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Mike Bolhuis: “Van Staden a super-crook”

More and more complaints are surfacing against barred estate agent Annica van Staden.

June 11, 2018

Jana Boshoff 6 minutes read

The Estate Agency Affairs Board confirmed in February 2017 that Van Staden has been barred from operating as an estate agent, and that in continuing to do so without a licence, she would be committing a criminal offence.

She was found guilty of failing to ensure that she, and everyone that works for her, had a valid fidelity fund certificate, failing to keep money deposited into a trust account for the required legal time and failing to open separate trust accounts and notifying the board of their existence.

The accusations made by several local residents are now being mirrored in other parts of Mpumalanga and Gauteng. www.mobserver.co.za has been contacted by complainants as far as Mamelodi and Leandra, alleging that they have paid money to Van Staden but never received the houses they were promised.

• The first complainant, who requested to stay anonymous, said that he planned on buying a house in Mamelodi Extension 4. After meeting with Van Staden, he received a ‘bank guarantee’ from her. The letterhead read: “Yellow Key (Pty) Ltd. BEEE Level 1 and 4. Diesel supply and distribute (sic). Financial investor of market and related products. Supply of containers and convensionsand any other mining supply (sic)”

Also read: “Annica Van Staden stole my money”

The letter reads that the prospective buyers were approved for a R350 000 loan at Nedbank on the condition that they pay a R30 000 deposit into a ‘trust account’.
The letter also mentions that documents will be signed ‘as agreed with Annica’ and is signed off by ‘Housing Trust’.

Luckily for the buyer, his son saw that something was amiss and contacted Nedbank directly.
The bank confirmed that there was no such loan approval.
When the buyers confronted Van Staden, she simply vanished into thin air.
“We have never heard from her since we confronted her about the fake letter,” the complainant said.

• The Maseko family said that they thought they were buying an RDP house in Leandra in 2016. Mr Michilo Maseko used his pension money to pay R60 000 into a Nedbank account.
They claimed that they realised that the house they had bought did not exist. Attempts to get their money back have been futile.
They have since opened a criminal case against Van Staden.

• Winston Maluleke met Van Staden through someone working at the Goven Mbeki Municipality in Secunda. He was looking to invest his pension money in property. He met with Van Staden in the municipal worker’s office. Mr Maluleke was given an address in Embalenhle and went to look at the house. There were people living in the house who told Mr Maluleke that they were promised an RDP house.

Mr Maluleke said that Van Staden told him not to worry about the people in the house and that they will be evicted once the deal goes through.
“She told me that she has everything under control,” said Mr Maluleke.
He deposited R200 000 into a bank account provided. The municipal worker met him at the bank and took a copy of the proof of payment. He promised to give it to Van Staden.

Also read: The tricky problem with repossessed houses

After the money was paid everything went downhill, Mr Maluleke said. He struggled to get hold of Van Staden and also could not reach the municipal officer.
Mr Maluleke said that he suspects the municipal officer got a cut of the money. He too has since opened a criminal case.

• Complainants accusing Van Staden of fraud and theft have also opened cases against her in Lydenburg and Cape Town.

• A homeowner in Presidentsrus, near Middelburg, said that Van Staden disappeared from the house she was renting without paying all the money she owed him. She left behind furniture that is still inside the house.

The man has now threatened to sell her property to try and recover money owed to him as well as to allow him to rent it out to someone new.
•Van Staden has replied to allegations against her in an email sent to www.mobserver.co.za.
In the email, Mrs Van Staden makes several allegations against municipal workers, fellow estate agents, members of the fire department as well as a journalist and the police.

The parties involved cannot be named as it is impossible to identify all of them and get their comments.
For example, one person was identified as ‘the lady with the scew eyes (sic)” and others simply by their first names.
In short, Mrs Van Staden accuses fellow estate agents of faking her signature on contracts and using her name to do fraudulent deals.
She also accused police officers of being paid off. She said that she has solid proof of her accusations and is working with a local security company as well as Mike Bolhuis, a private investigator. She writes that they ‘have opened a case’ but it is unclear what type of case was opened and with whom.

Mrs Van Staden said that she and her boyfriend, Johan Jansen van Rensburg, fled because they feared for their lives. She mentioned an incident where her boyfriend was hijacked and kidnapped as well as incidents at her house where she was threatened with a gun.
She said that her costs for security, as well as for damages to her property and medical bills, amounts to R200 000, which she wants to be compensated for.
Of the local security company, Mrs Van Staden writes “I will suggest him to anyone if you want your dirty jobs done.
His people are professionally trained and (he) is a no-nonsense person.”

Mrs Van Staden accused the journalist writing her stories of constantly being under the influence of alcohol, and hanging out at a certain bar on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights where she ‘rocks and rolls’ and intimidates other patrons.
• Mr Bolhuis confirmed that he has done work for Mrs Van Staden.
Instead of vouching for her, he called her a ‘super-crook’ saying that she is bad news.

Mr Bolhuis said that he was contacted by Mrs Van Staden, requesting his help after she and her boyfriend were allegedly kidnapped.
He was told that their lives were in danger.

Mr Bolhuis sent a tactical team to Mhluzi where Mrs Van Staden and Mr Jansen van Rensburg were rescued from a house. Their black Mercedes 63 AMG was impounded and the couple were taken to a safe house for the weekend.
He managed to find out that the alleged kidnapping of Mrs van Staden was actually a confrontation because she owed someone money, something she failed to disclose.

“If you come to me with the truth, that you are a crook but that your life is in danger, I will protect your life. But don’t come to me with stories about Jesus and then it turns out you were flat out lying to me the whole time,” said Mr Bolhuis.

Mr Bolhuis managed to track the true owner of the car, a man from Johannesburg, and return his car to him. The man told Mr Bolhuis that he had a deal to sell the car to Mrs Van Staden but that she disappeared with it after paying the deposit.
Mr Bolhuis said that he knows about another car in Mrs Van Staden’s possession that was obtained under similar circumstances as the above mentioned Mercedes.

He invited anyone with complaints about Mrs Van Staden or Mr Jansen van Rensburg to contact him as he is busy compiling a docket against her. He also said that he is willing to share his information with the police.