Fur flies in complex dog versus cat fight

CATS versus dogs in complexes turned into a legal wrangling at the high court in Pretoria.

A cat owner has claimed that it was unfair discrimination to rule that residents may keep dogs but cats were banned.

There was discontent among the residents of Ireland Gardens in Centurion, who said cats posed a nuisance as they cannot be contained.

They sleep on the beds of neighbours and urinate inside the units, residents complained.

Cat lover Izaak van Niekerk, owner of one of the units, secretly got himself another moggie after his two cats died. It was spotted by one of the residents running into his garden, and he was reported.

Van Niekerk asked the body corporate to amend its rules on cats, but it refused.

He then took the matter up with the adjudicator of community schemes, who acted as an ombud to resolve the dispute.

The adjudicator ruled in Van Niekerk’s favour, concluding that homeowners should be treated equally and that dog lovers could not be favoured over cat lovers.

But the body corporate would have none of this and turned to the court to have this ruling overturned.

Pieter de beer Venter, a member of the body corporate and resident, said in court papers that, prior to the adoption of rule 1.13, cats were permitted, subject to prior written approval from the trustees.

This was also the rule regarding any pets at the complex, whether they were birds, dogs, cats or reptiles.

However, the regulation stated that “approval may not be unreasonably withheld”.

The felines, however, over the years became a growing nuisance in the complex, it was claimed.

The body corporate resolved in 2009 that cats were no longer welcome.

Those who had cats at the time were permitted to keep them but not allowed to replace them after they had died.

All went well for some years and it seemed as if there were no more cats until a resident spotted one running into Van Niekerk’s yard in 2017.

All hell broke loose and he was told several times to get rid of his new moggie.

Van Niekerk then asked for the rule to be amended during a special general meeting.

The body corporate refused, saying the earlier complaints and problems would simply surface again. Van Niekerk then turned to the adjudicator.

She ruled that the no-cat rule was biased because cat owners were treated differently.