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A MDANTSANE family has been broken apart after they were kicked out of their home when it was sold without their knowledge.

Mlungisi and Mandisa Gantana and their five children have been living apart for a year since they had to move in with family and friends.

Their four-roomed house in NU10 in Mdantsane was sold last year after Mortgage Capital, then African Bank, claimed the family had defaulted on bond payments.

Mortgage Capital’s Brenda Ziemerink said their system showed the Gantanas had been defaulting since 2000, and a decision was taken to attach their house last year.

But the family said they had made payments through a lawyer, Mlungiseleli Mbeki, and showed the Dispatch Crusaders receipts for the payments.

Mbeki referred the Crusaders to a court judgment dated October14, 2000 in the Zwelitsha Magistrate’s Court, where the Gantanas’ application against having their house attached was dismissed. “They defaulted on their monthly instalments and if you can read their affidavits in the court papers, they explain everything,” he said.

The court judgment said “judgment granted by default against applicant in favour of the respondent on March 10, 2000, and hereby rescinded as prayed for”. The application was dismissed with costs.

Receipts showed that the Gantanas had been making monthly payments since 2000 to Mbeki’s law firm, Potelwa and Co.

“We are disturbed, very hurt, confused and disappointed with the legal system and most importantly, we have been humiliated and have nowhere to go,” Mlungisi said. Prior to making payments to the lawyer, he paid R305.39 a month. When he was retrenched in 2000 and could not afford to pay the full amount, he made arrangements with the bank to pay what he could.

“We received a letter from Potelwa & Co instructing us to pay the amounts through them as they were acting for African Bank. We then took the letter to them and we met Mr Mbeki there, who instructed us to pay R1000. By this time we were already paying R500 per month via debit order,” he said.

Mlungisi claimed Mbeki instructed them not to stop paying the money through debit order, but pay directly to his offices, which they did up until March 2008. “When we went to pay at the end of March last year, Mr Mbeki told us that we should keep the money as he had sold the house in 1999.”

Mbeki refused to comment further . - By SIBONGILE MKANI — crusaders@dispatch. co.za