Siphiwe Mthembu was evicted from the home in Orlando East, Soweto, she has been occupying with her children. She was evicted despite her alleging the house was willed to her. Photo: Nigel Sibanda
In this cold, a woman and her family members, including a 14-month-old baby, have been tossed on to the streets following a bitter fight for a family home.
Siphiwe Mthembu and some family members were left destitute after an adopted son of the late owner of the house allegedly sold it without her knowledge.
Mthembu, whose young children have been sleeping outside in the cold since Tuesday as they have nowhere to go, claimed the late owner wrote a will which made her the owner of the house.
“I arrived here in 2009 as a tenant but I was looking after gogo [granny] as her adopted children were not staying here,” she said.
“A councillor got involved and brought a social worker. The social worker said I should continue taking care of her and I moved in the house in 2011. I continued paying for the place I rented initially and looking after gogo.
“The adopted children just took the rent money and her grant without looking after her.”
She said gogo died in 2015 and left a will in which Mthembu was named the beneficiary of the house.
After gogo died, I went to report to the councillor. The councillor told me to take my ID and gogo’s death certificate to Absa, and that’s when I found out there was a will by gogo which left me as the beneficiary of the house.
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“I do not understand what is happening now. The only thing I know is that one of the children who was staying here sold the house without informing me.”
She accused the buyer of the house of harassing her and being at the forefront of the issue as shacks in the yard were destroyed when the sheriff came to effect a court order of eviction.
“I want the law to take its course and tell me why I keep being harassed when I have the will and the letter which has been authorised by the master’s office.”
Rafiq Thabit said he bought the house for R200 000 in October 2015 from a child of the deceased.
“They gave me a title deed and letter of authority and the property was registered in my name and my wife’s name.”
Thabit said he has been fighting for the property since 2015 and felt vindicated that the court ruled that he should move in.
“We have been fighting this for the longest time. I even got arrested for assault the first time we tried to evict her. This eviction is for the second time. By saying I destroyed the shacks, they are trying to vilify me,” he said.
“The only thing I am sad about is that the (shack) tenants were unaware and their landlord was not supposed to have them here while there was still this dispute in court. We got the court order on 31 May and she had 31 days to vacate but she kept this from me and the tenants.”
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