Pretoria - A money-lending company has been instructed to immediately return the Mercedes-Benz of a client who had defaulted on her repayments.
The car was seized by four men, who simply took the car from where it was parked at the Sandton City Mall, where she was doing shopping.
Nthabiseng Maake said she and her two children were left shocked and stranded at the mall after the men, working for Allied Capital in Centurion, took her car.
According to Maake, she was not even allowed to remove her possessions from the vehicle.
Allied Capital’s employees told the high court in Pretoria that Maake took out a loan for R30 000 but did not pay up.
The car was part of the deal, as she agreed to surrender it if she failed to pay, they claimed.
But Judge NV Khumalo said the money lender could never revert to “self help” tactics instead of going through the legal channels.
Maake turned to court in an urgent bid to get her car back, especially as the money lending company could not guarantee that it would not be sold on auction to recover the money.
Maake received R30 000 credit from the money-lending company in February last year.
There was a dispute on whether the debt had been settled or not.
Maake said it was, while the company said it was not.
Maake said that in December last year, she was shopping at the mall with her children, aged 11 and 16, when she was accosted by four “hugely-built men who looked like bouncers”.
They were waiting for her near her car when she returned from shopping.
Maake said she was ambushed. While they were taking her car, she got a call from a company employee, who told her the car had to be taken, as she had signed away her right of ownership when she entered into the loan agreement.
The protesting woman had to hand over her parking ticket to the men.
She was told that she could later fetch her belongings from the company’s office.
Maake said she was “so upset and stressed” that she had to be admitted to hospital for a few days.
One of the “muscle men” identified as William Knox in court papers, told a different story.
Knox told the court they received instructions from their office to repossess the vehicle, and they traced it to where it was parked at the mall.
Knox said they waited next to the car while Maake did the rest of her shopping.
When she and her children got back, they claimed she willingly handed over the vehicle and parking ticket to them.
Maake also agreed to later fetch the rest of her belongings from their office.
According to the company, Maake did not respond to their demands that she settle her debt.
They thus traced its whereabouts and send, on their version, two men to repossess it.
But Judge Khumalo found that Maake did not voluntarily hand over her vehicle.
Khumalo also said that the explanation by the men that she voluntarily handed over the vehicle and did not mind leaving her possessions in it, was far-fetched and improbable.
The judge said if the company did not immediately hand back the car, the sheriff would confiscate it and hand it back to Maake.
Pretoria News