ZINGISILE MAPAZI, Johannesburg | Tuesday
A COURT order allowing First Rand Bank to repossess Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s luxury Mercedes Benz S320 after she defaulted on her credit installments was granted in the Johannesburg High Court on Tuesday.
Court documents handed to acting judge Brian Spilg stated that the car in question had been purchased from Sandown Motors on June 28 1999.
Madikizela-Mandela paid a deposit of R129 000 and agreed to terms of R7 720.82 per month for a period of 60 months as of August 1, 1999.
Court documents submitted by First Rand Bank stated they had not received any payments since July 2001 and that she had failed to settle an outstanding sum of R48 742.69, despite having been sent numerous registered reminders.
The last instalment received from Madikizela-Mandela was on October 4, 2001. She deposited R2 500 into the account.
The bank further claimed that she had not responded to reminders asking her to settle the outstanding sum within 30 days, or return the car to them.
First Rand Bank asked the court for a default judgment.
They wanted the car repossessed and Madikizela-Mandela to be held liable for all legal costs.
Madikizela-Mandela opposed the application and her counsel, Solani Gudhluza, on Tuesday said he believed his client had not been aware of the court order to repossess her Mercedes. ”I spoke to her 30 minutes ago and she did not mention the issue.”
Gudlhuza added, however, that he had been aware of the letters she received about the outstanding payments, but was not aware of any legal steps being taken against his client in connection with this.
Gudhluza on Tuesday went to the High Court to investigate a January court order evicting Madikizela-Mandela from the Mandela home in Orlando West, Soweto and handing it over to the Soweto Heritage Trust.
He maintained the court had not been in a position to rule in favour of eviction as Madikizela-Mandela had filed for an application to annul the sale and transfer it to former president Nelson Mandela and the Soweto Heritage Trust. ”Her legal counsel maintains that the court only had jurisdiction to turn her application down.”
Madikizela-Mandela filed the application following an application by the Soweto Heritage Trust in 1998 that she be evicted from the house she had been running as a museum.
She disputed the sale by the former West Rand Administration Board to the former president on the grounds that the transfer had been registered in the name of her stepson Makgatho Mandela.
”The board appropriated the house following Mandela’s banning order in 1977. She later applied to have the house re-registered in the family name (around 1985). The son’s name was used as Nelson Mandela was serving a life sentence at the time with slim prospects of his release. The Soweto Heritage Trust was established in 1995 to identify several places of historic value as heritage sites.
Other heritage properties besides Mandela’s house No. 8115 in Orlando West include the former residences of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former ANC deputy president Walter Sisulu, the late Pan Africanist Congress president Zephania Mothopeng, as well as the Regina Mundi Church, Freedom Square where the Freedom Charter was signed in 1955 — and the Hector Petersen Memorial. – Sapa
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