Judge ‘unscrambles’ egg, following R100 sale of property 20 years ago

A bank sold a home in 2001 for R100. Now, a judge has reversed all transactions on the property since then.

A high court judge has “unscrambled the egg” and undone a series of what he deemed to be “unlawful” sales of a property which began 20 years ago, returning it to its original owners.

Original sale took place in 2001

High Court in Johannesburg Acting Judge Tebogo Thupaatlase ruled that the original sale in execution of the property in 2001 by then BOE Bank (now Nedbank), had been done without judicial oversight or authority.

The bank bought the property, adding it to its own property portfolio, for R100. It then on-sold it. It was transferred to three different entities and finally sold to the present owner, Tobeka Mahamba, in 2014.

Original owners

The original owners, Agnes Malinga and Joseph Njoko, continued to reside in the home over this period, believing they were the owners. It was only when Mahamba applied in the Sebokeng Magistrate’s Court for their eviction, they said, that they became aware that their home had been sold more than 20 years before.

‘Unscramble an egg’

Thupaatlase said he had to determine the legality of the transactions over the years. “The analogy that the court is called upon to unscramble an egg, which was scrambled some two decades ago, is not far-fetched,” he said.

He said it was not in dispute that Malinga and Njoko were the original owners who had obtained financing through the now defunct NBS Bank during 1990. The bank then went through several mergers and in 2005, most of its assets and liabilities were transferred to Nedbank.

He said that according to Malinga and Njoko, during this time they did not know where to pay instalments and fell into arrears.

Nedbank, on behalf of BOE Bank, submitted that this resulted in the foreclosure and sale in execution in 2001. The judge said while the bank said the couple then paid rent, “there is no indication that they were aware of this state of affairs and there is no evidence of rental agreement”.

The applicants attached receipts showing payments made around 2003 which they believed to be repayments on the bond. They said in 2014 they “suspected something was amiss” when they were visited by “illegal estate agents”.

“The facts of this case reveal a very disturbing behavioural pattern of banking institutions which morphed after the demise of NBS. There is no indication any judicial processes were instituted when the home loan agreement was cancelled around 2001,” the judge said.

He declared the repossession to be unlawful and invalid and the sales and transfers to be null and void.

ALSO READ: Homes sold illegally for R100 without the knowledge of the owners 

This article first appeared on GroundUp and was republished with permission. Read the original article here.