A single mother of four says her landlord’s “dangerous” lifestyle is putting her and her kids lives in danger.
Warda Jacobs, 51, says they are being “tormented and disrespected” by their landlord, who is on Pagad’s task team in Mitchells Plain, while the home they are renting from him had become a target for skollies.
Warda says she moved into the house in Veronica Road, Lentegeur, owned by Thaakir “Zakkie” Roberts after finding it on Facebook Market Place about a year ago.
She says she paid R6000 per month for rent, but Roberts is now making their life a living hell.
She claims: “They tried breaking into the house four times because the house is a target. If I knew that, I would not have moved into the place.
“Zakkie goes around and starts beating up anyone who looks or dresses like a gangster, then he disappears.
“But the people come to my door, then I must explain he is not here.
“After a month of living in the house, he moved into the separate entrance. The garage was full of his stuff because he is a cabinet maker and he uses the electricity I am buying.
“Some of our clothes were in the storage and he started using it to wipe the glue, wash his cars and wipe his hands. I have three full bags of soiled clothes. His excuse was that he thought it was his stuff.”
Warda says Roberts called her kids “bastards” and her 26-year-old daughter moved out.
The mom says she then paid Roberts R3000 for rent as her daughter had been helping her with the payments. But then she stopped paying all together five months ago because of the “disrespect and abuse”.
She says on Tuesday when she came home from work, Roberts had removed all the doors including the front and back doors, had thrown all their clothes out of the cupboards and even broke the toilet, all to “intimidate her and force her move out”.
However, Roberts says Warda owes him R35 000 in rent and lied about her financial situation by claiming she lost her job.
He says: “She told me that she was put off from work because money was stolen but when I confronted the manager, he said it is not true.
“I removed all the doors from the house to make it very inconvenient [for her], because I am stressing over the rates and water I need to pay and the water is in arrears.
“I never interfered with them and I asked them to move out because I am losing money.”
Regarding skollies coming to the house, he says: “I am part of Pagad and the gangsters are too scared to come to my house because I’m very serious about my community and family and I’m prepared to die for them.”
A defeated Warda says she is packing up and moving in with her sister and she is not paying the rent arrears, in lieu of their soiled clothes and Roberts disrespecting her.