CAPE TOWN - A pensioner and property bond client of Standard Bank says she is tired of the 13-year legal “merry go round” as the bank will not pay money allegedly owed to her after her bond was paid up.
Speaking on behalf of her elderly mother, Colleen Mboso said her mother has been “left distraught and traumatised” following a court order made after it was found her mother had overpaid on her property bond.
“Yet the bank is now insisting that they have a case against my mother and we are going up and down with this matter when in fact it was already established my mother had overpaid on her bond.
“This matter has been coming on since 2009 after my mom bought a home in Gugulethu during 2003.
“Since then there have been many discrepancies getting this matter dealt with including us finding out that case files have gone missing, fraud had been committed against my mother’s name and also during litigation processes, the banks have chopped and changed attorneys so many times.
“The bank is saying that we still owe on the home that my mother had already paid up in full and we have a letter, from the bank, that states it, yet they are adamant that they have a case and so we are currently in court again over this matter,” said Mboso.
The ordeal for the Mboso family has since been reported to the Western Cape High Court Judge President in an attempt to get to a solution.
“The bank wants to bleed her dry. My mother had applied for a pro bono lawyer to assist in the matter because she cannot afford the legal fees, she is a pensioner. It’s not nice seeing her crying day in and day out thinking of what the bank is busy doing to her,” said Mboso.
Standard Bank spokesperson Kgaogelo Mohlala said the matter has a long “litigious history and relates to the original action” under a different case number brought by the bank against Mboso to recover monies due in terms of a home loan agreement.
“The home loan agreement went into default in 2005 and from October 2005 various delays, including changes to Mboso’s legal representation, were experienced which delayed the finalisation of the matter.
“Judgment was granted in Standard Bank’s favour in 2015, however, subsequently, Mboso elected to apply for a rescission of the judgment which was granted.
“The result is that the matter is currently proceeding in the high court. A trial date has not yet been allocated by the court, however, at the trial both parties will have the opportunity to put forward their case for the court to make a decision. At this stage, Mboso remains in default of her obligations under the home loan agreement,” said Mohlala.
During 2018 in a rescission order, opposed by Standard Bank, Judge Pearl Andrews said Mboso is “entitled to her day in court” to have the matter ventilated and granted Mboso her application to defend the matter.
“(Mboso) should, at the very least, be afforded the opportunity to challenge and protect the interest which she has in her primary residence situated in Gugulethu. To question Mboso’s bona fides in challenging same would be tantamount to denying her constitutionally protected right to housing which she has worked hard to acquire. To close the door to her to defend the action would additionally be tantamount to this court denying her the right to challenge and adduce evidence,” Judge Andrews had ordered.
Cape Times