Cape Town - The Western Cape High Court has dismissed an application by the Mzamomhle Foundation Trust, to evict the Mzamomhle Educare crèche, which caters for needy children in Wallacedene.
Meanwhile, the court said the relationship between the trust and the crèche calls for a thorough investigation.
In the court case, the Mzamomhle Foundation Trust claimed to have bought the property on which the crèche sits, from the founder of Mzamomhle Educare, the late Margaret Noxolo Ngaleka, who was the crèche principal until she died in November 2016.
The court heard how, in 2010, Ngaleka met Robert Serné, now a member of the Mzamomhle Trust and one of the applicants in the case, and asked for his help to get sponsorship for the crèche.
Serné said he would source sponsorship for the crèche from the Netherlands. Meanwhile, he encouraged Ngaleka to approach the City of Cape Town for a bigger piece of land, which would enable them to build a proper structure for the crèche.
Ngaleka was successful and managed to purchase land for R33 000, on behalf of Serné, who had set up the trust.
In 2012, Ngaleka signed a deed of donation to the trust and the land was eventually transferred in early 2016, after which the Mzamomhle Foundation Trust claimed to have bought the property from Mzamomhle Educare.
Ngaleka’s daughter Bongeka Mqolombeni told the court that her mother did not understand the consequences of the deed of donation, and she had not been legally represented at the time.
Judge Mantame said that the purported sale agreement for the land and subsequent lease agreement, which the trust claimed had been signed by Ngaleka, required scrutiny, especially in light of the fact that Ngaleka’s daughter had said fraud had taken place.
She said the lease agreement was peppered with illegality and, on the face of it, unconscionable and contrary to public policy.
“This court will not occupy itself about who owns the property, as this is not the point for determination at this stage. It is a sad situation that the basis of this eviction is, on the face of it, an unlawful lease agreement,
“As a consequence, the eviction of vulnerable children is not competent at this stage, as there was no lease agreement.
The circumstances leading to the purchase of the land calls for investigation into allegations of fraud and misrepresentation,” said Judge Mantame.