Kenneth Jacobs (pictured), the chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Health, on Monday scored a victory over his neighbours in a long-standing fight over housekeeping issues.
Jacobs, who is in the national assembly on the ticket of the ANC, dragged his neighbours Berto and Sonja du Toit to court over a three-year-old dispute.
The three are neighbours in Lady Lock Road Wellington – the picturesque town 45-minute drive from Cape Town.
The du Toit’s, directors of Bertho du Toit, bought the property adjacent to Jacobs’ house in 2019 for R5 million.
The relationship immediately got off to a rocky start after Jacobs, a resident in the area for 28 years, complained to the couple about their trucks which transported cattle manure, and were cleaned at their property, which he said caused the waste from the trucks to flow down the property past other properties into the river.
This, Jacobs said, caused a very bad odour in the neighbourhood. The dispute between the Jacobs’ and du Toit’s ended up in the magistrate court where a magistrate ruled in the du Toit’s favour and ordered Jacobs to refrain from “engaging in or attempting to engage in harassment of the applicant and his family and/or his employees.”
The du Toit’s were also awarded a protection order against their neighbours. Jacobs then approached the High Court seeking it to set aside the ruling by the magistrate.
Jacobs told the Western Cape High Court that his family began to experience headaches and feeling sick because of the terrible smell in the air.
He also said the nuisance caused by flies, which were not a problem in the area before, were such that the family could not even enjoy hosting visitors at the property.
On top of this, Jacobs, said there was grinding, panel beating, working late into the night at the du Toit’s property, which made his life a living hell.
Jacobs’ version of events was confirmed by his wife who testified that she could not sleep peacefully because of the noise from the trucks. She went to the extent of telling the judges who heard the matter
In his defence, Berto explained that his business included buying and selling livestock. He did not house the cattle or sheep on the property. He said there was no offloading of livestock on the property.
The du Toit’s also denied they were responsible for the bad odour in the area.
Berto said the last time he spoke to Jacobs was when he allegedly came to his property and hurled insults at him.
“You must take your trucks and f**k off. You do not belong here,” Berto told the told, recalling his last encounter with Jacobs.
He further alleged that Jacobs then told him that if he did not take away his trucks, he was going to get 10 gangsters to kill him and his family.
However, judge Daniel Thulare and Deputy Judge President Patricia Goliath dismissed du Toit’s version of events.
“If one contextualizes the conduct of the two neighbours, the respondent (Jacobs) was eager to have the appellants to stop their business which according to him, was not being operated on a properly zoned area whilst the appellants became aware after their purchase of the property that the land was not zoned for what they bought it for,” the judgement reads.
“Against that background, it sounds silly for the second appellant (Sonja) to seek to stop the respondent from pursuing his case through collection of relevant evidence and involvement of the municipality, by using the Act against him. The rest of the complaints must fail.”
The judges also poured cold water on allegations made by the du Toits over threats of violence from Jacobs.
“The respondent had at all times pursued legal means to resolve the issues. He engaged the appellants, and when it did not yield his desired effect, he approached the municipality and the Director of Public Prosecutions for intervention. In my view the probabilities are evenly balanced. I am unable to find that any of their versions is false, and the second appellant’s complaint must fail.”
The feud between the two families is not done just yet as they are still in court on complaints made above by Jacobs.
Jacobs, a medical doctor, was appointed to the powerful position of chair of the portfolio committee last year after the elevation of Sibongiseni Dhlomo to the Deputy Minister of Health position following a cabinet reshuffle.
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