Crime – Courts

THE ball is now in the court of the City’s Planning Appeals Advisory Panel (PAAP) to recommend the future of a six-storey hotel development planned to be built less than 20 meters from South Africa’s oldest mosque, Auwal Masjid in Bo Kaap. The building has drawn widespread criticism from the residents of the historic area, with the Bo-Kaap Civic and Ratepayers Association (BKCRA) expressing...

In a case of David taking on Goliath, a homeowner who lost his house after a default judgment was issued against him, based on wrong calculations by Nedbank, emerged victorious as the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, had overturned the sale in execution. Prenash Somlal, who appeared in person fighting his case against Nedbank, turned to court to have a default judgment against him overturned. The...

A real estate employee appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Courton Thursday on charges of fraud. Riaan Theunissen, 36, faces over 400 charges of fraud. The Western Cape spokesperson for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (known as Hawks), Lieutenant Colonel Siyabulela Vukubi said Theunissen’s appearance comes after a warrant of arrest was executed against him. Theunissen...

An elderly woman, who wanted to sell a guest house she had been running for over 20 years with her late husband, had to take his three sons to court to compel them to sign the deed of sale. Margaret Hart, 78, was married to the late Peter Dionysius Hart out of community of property in December 1984. The husband already had three boys from his previous marriages, and together, they had one boy. From...

Cape Town - Church leaders from The Elected in Christ Church in Delft are at their wits' end after paying R200 000 for a piece of land on auction from the City of Cape Town which is now occupied by illegal occupants who refuse to move. The church bought the piece of land in Eindhoven, Delft on 16 October 2019 for R200 000 with the intention of building a new church and setting up a feeding scheme and a...

Cape Town - October marks Cyber Security Awareness month, a global campaign that shines a light on the importance of safeguarding against cyber threats. With so many cyber vulnerabilities present across all industries, Jackie Smith, head of Buyers Trust – a cutting-edge bank-hosted deposit solution for homebuyers – said that today’s landscape is more complex than ever before. “Today there...

The School Governing Body (SGB) of Die Hoërskool Menlopark (SGB) failed in its legal bid to halt the proposed high-density residential development, earmarked to be erected across the school in Menlopark, Pretoria. The school turned to the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, for an order reviewing and overturning the decision by the City of Tshwane to give the green light to the developer to have the area...

The Department of Human Settlements has issued a warning after a new housing scam emerged, with housing seekers being billed R100,000 for subsidized government houses. The new scam has recently emerged on social media platforms. According to the department, scammers falsely claim to be department employees and offer assistance with government-subsidised housing applications for the Breaking New...

The Deputy National Police Commissioner for Crime Detection has authorised an investigation into the forgery of a court judgment at Mahikeng High Court, North West. Following a complaint lodged by Ramphele Attorneys detailing what it described as a “fraudulent court order”, allegedly used against their client by the Mahikeng High Court Sheriff to seize a multi-million rand property – the firm has...

As former agriculture and land reform minister and recently elected National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza faces possible jail time In a David v Goliath court battle, three sheep farmers – Johannes Bezuidenhout, Herold Bezuidenhout and Jan Berg – represented by the Legal Resources Centre (LRC), hauled the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development to court after it had not complied...