Marion Edmunds
A CAPE TOWN seamstress has accused Gerald Morkel, MEC for police in the Western Cape, of selling her a structurally unsound house which is falling apart.
Gwennie Booth said she bought the house in Mariner Road, Heathfield, from Morkel in a private deal in 1991. Morkel is one of the National Party’s foremost leaders in the Western Cape. Booth said that she voted for the party in the 1994 general election.
Morkel’s terms were tempting to Booth, who had lived in rented accommodation in Grassy Park up to then and did not have much ready cash. He allowed her to pay her deposit to him over a period of time in instalments.
Now, five years later, the house is suffering from widespread damp and the walls are cracking.
In protest Booth halted her bond repayments last August, arguing that First National Bank (FNB) – which had given her a R160 000 loan for the purchase of the house – should sort out the problems.
FNB, in response, is planning to auction her house on Monday, to recoup the money lost from the unpaid instalments. Morkel is to sue Booth for not paying the instalments for the deposit, which she said she had not paid in protest against the widening cracks in the house and the rising damp in her bedroom. She said that she could not afford to employ attorneys and would defend herself in court.
Morkel referred the Mail & Guardian to his lawyer when asked for comment. His legal representative said he did not want to pre- empt the court case, but indicated that Booth had not been able to provide documentation to prove that the house had latent defects when sold to her.