HOW BANK SOLD PLUSH HOUSE OVER E50 000 DEBT

MBABANE - From owning a posh house that comprised three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a lounge, dining room, kitchen and a garage to living in a rented one-bedroom house located in the outskirts of the city.

That is the sad story of an elderly Matsebula couple and their four sons after the place they had called home for almost 20 years was sold by the Swaziland Building Society to recover a debt of E49 741.87.
The couple now lives at Mpolonjeni while their sons have had to find alternative accommodation.

The Matsebulas believe and are convinced that the Society inflated the outstanding debt, first to E170 000, and later to E220 000 so as to render them unable to settle the amount.
For almost 17 years now, the Matsebulas are still fighting, with little success, to see justice prevail in the matter and, most importantly, have their house returned to them.
The matter dates back to 1996 and the Matsebulas were eventually evicted from their home in 2000.

What has given them further courage to contest the sale of their house is the June 2016 Supreme Court judgment that saw Rodgers Bhoyane Du Pont regaining ownership of his farm which had been sold by the same financial institution over an outstanding debt  
Simon Matsebula also suffered the same fate after he took a mortgage bond with the Society to purchase the house that is situated at Eveni (Lot No. 1578 Mbabane Extension No.12) measuring 2 249 square metres.
The Society even refused an undertaking by the Central Bank of Swaziland (CBS) to provide Matsebula with an advance of E100 000 to settle the debt. At the time, Matsebula was employed by the CBS.

Through a letter dated December 8, 1999 written by CS Dlamini, the then Acting Senior Director of the CBS, it was stated: “I am writing to advise that following a request for an urgent housing loan, the bank has agreed that it can advance to Mr. Matsebula an amount not exceeding E100 000 (one hundred thousand emalangeni) towards settlement to his housing loan debt, including accumulated interest and other costs with the Swaziland Building Society.” In response, the Society, through its lawyers from Robinson Bertram, informed Matsebula in a letter dated December 14, 1999 that an order for his ejectment from the house had been granted on December 3, 1999. Matsebula was told to have vacated the premises no later than December 16, 1999.

“Kindly take notice that should you still be in occupation of our client’s premises after the time limit set out above the Deputy Sheriff will execute the ejectment order on Friday, December 17, 1999,” Matsebula was informed.
On October 11, 1999, Matsebula’s lawyer, the late Bheki Simelane, questioned the Society on the amount that his client owed because various figures were popping up.

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