Court weighs in on stink fight
THE Western Cape High Court has overturned a Wellington magistrate’s judgment granted in favour of a couple who had sought a protection order against a neighbour they accused of harassing and threatening them.
It all began when Berto and Sonja du Toit, directors of transportation company Berto du Toit Vervoer, bought and moved into a property in Lady Lock Road, Wellington.
Once they took over the property, their trucks which transported cattle manure would be brought to the property to be cleaned.
This upset their neighbours, particularly ANC MP Kenneth Jacobs, who confronted them on the issue, complaining that the business caused the neighbourhood to stink.
Jacobs, who has lived in the area for 28 years, did everything he could through legal means to stop the Du Toits from running their business on the property which he said was not zoned for the activity.
During the three years there were a number of confrontations between the neighbours including one which Berto told the court ended with Jacobs threatening violence and allegedly saying:
“You must take your trucks and f**k off. You do not belong here.”
In the end the matter ended up before a magistrate in Wellington who ordered Jacobs to stop from “engaging in or attempting to engage in harassment of the applicant and his family and/or his employees”.
The magistrate also awarded the Du Toits a protection order against Jacobs who then approached the High Court wanting the magistrate’s ruling set aside.
Jacobs told the High Court that his family was physically sickened by the odour from the Du Toit’s compound and that the panel beating and working late into the night at the Du Toit’s property made his life miserable.
Judge Daniel Thulare and Deputy
Judge President Patricia Goliath took a dim view of the magistrate’s order and said it was impractical to order no contact between neighbours who lived in close circumstances such as theirs.
The judges also dismissed the allegations made by the Du Toits over threats of violence from Jacobs.
“The respondent had at all times pursued legal means to resolve the issues,” they said.
They said Jacobs had engaged the Du Toits, and when this did not yield the desired effect, he approached the municipality and the Director of Public Prosecutions for intervention.