Court rules against widow who signed away her home during financial distress

THE North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has overturned a lower court ruling that restored a property to a woman who claimed she had been deceived into signing away ownership of her home during financial distress.

- SINENHLANHLA MASILELA

A full bench of the high court upheld an appeal brought by Key Results Properties (Pty) Ltd and businessman Ernest Phillipus Blignaut against widow, Mmamabiri Leah Kgoele, who had sought to reverse the transfer of her property after it was registered in the company’s name in 2008.

The dispute centred on a Pretoria property that Kgoele and her late husband faced losing after falling behind on mortgage repayments to ABSA. According to the judgment, Key Results, a property investment company, stepped in before the property could be sold in execution and concluded several agreements with the couple in August 2007.

Those agreements included a lease agreement, an offer to purchase, a special power of attorney and later a separate offer allowing the Kgoeles to buy the property back. The property was ultimately transferred into the name of Key Results on March 11, 2008.

Kgoele later approached the high court seeking to have the transfer set aside arguing that she believed the arrangement was merely a loan intended to save her home.