Family lives in shacks despite buying a house
Three-year misery could end this week
The excitement of buying a new house soured for a Soweto pensioner when tenants living in it refused to leave.
As a result, Gilbert Kgengwe has been homeless for the past three years despite buying a R320 000 house through Snooks Estate.
Kgengwe is currently renting a shack in Protea Glen, Soweto, while his sons also rent a shack in Green Village. But his misery could ease this week after Snooks Estate promised to refund his money on Thursday.
Kgengwe had a house he had paid off in 2014 after taking early retirement. He said the four-roomed house had become too small for a family of six, which included four grown-up sons.
He said in his search for a bigger house he regularly visited the Snooks office in Protea Glen until he one day saw a house the agency had advertised on its notice board.
He offered to sell his house in exchange for the one advertised. His house was evaluated and valued at R380 000 and the one advertised was priced at R320 000.
The house he wanted to buy belonged to Lucas Molebele and Zubair Yunus Mahomed, who had bought it in an an auction, Kgengwe said
He was shocked when people living in the house he bought refused to move out, contesting it was a family house and that they had nowhere to go.
“Snooks promised to evict them but they never did. Instead they rented a house in Lenasia for us,” he said.
However, the company allegedly never paid the rent and abandoned him and his family there until they were visited by the house owner, Mogomotsi Barei, who complained that he was not getting his monthly rent.
Kgengwe said his family eventually moved out and became homeless. This took a toll on his wife; she later died of a heart problem, he said.
Consumer Line spoke to Matseleng Mogodi of Snooks Estate who said, before selling the house, they interviewed the owner of the house they sold to Kgengwe, who promised to move out once the property was sold. It was only after the property was transferred into Kgengwe’s name that they encountered the problem, she said.
Though Mogodi said Kgengwe vacated the rental house on his own accord, its owner Barei said he evicted him because he wanted to take occupation.