A Lotus River shopkeeper who was evicted from his store by the building’s owners, has won his case in court.
|||Cape Town - A Lotus River shopkeeper who was evicted from his store by the building’s owners, who included Justice Department regional head Hishaam Mohamed, has won his case in the Western Cape High Court.
Judge Thandazwa Ndita found that the version of events presented by Mohamed, his brother Salim and sister Shenaaz, was “farfetched and untenable”.
Shopkeeper Dilawar Parker says he has been vindicated by the ruling, but that “he would have preferred for it not to have come to this”.
Judge Thandazwa Ndita heard the matter on July 1 and handed down her judgment on July 4.
The court accepted that Parker had had a verbal lease agreement with Mohamed’s father, Abdullah Mohamed, for 13 years. When Abdullah Mohamed died two years ago, his children, including Hishaam, inherited the building housing the shop on the corner of First Avenue and Zeekoei Road.
In early June, Parker was approached by three people interested in buying his business, but after thinking about the offer, he decided it was not suitable. A few days later, on June 11, said the judge, he was informed by Liquat Ismail, his shop assistant, that Hishaam Mohamed had closed the store.
Parker went to the store and found it locked up, and the Mohamed brothers as well as the three potential buyers outside. Parker was then informed he should remove his goods from the premises. According to Parker, an argument ensued, and he then did remove some goods. The Mohameds left with the keys. But later that night, Parker returned to the shop and had the locks changed.
The following day, while Ismail ran the store, Parker went to the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court to lodge an order in terms of the Protection from Harassment Act. While still in Wynberg, Parker received a call from Ismail saying Salim Mohamed and the station commander of Grassy Park police station had gone to the store and demanded the keys from Ismail, which he handed over.
Parker then approached the high court for an order “to compel the Mohameds to restore to him possession and control of the shop”, saying that he had “neither consented to or intended to relinquish his rights to occupy the premises”.
In his case, Salim Mohamed acknowledged the existence of a lease agreement with Parker. But he said Parker had been having difficulty running the business, had asked to be released from the lease because the business was too costly, and he was also not paying his electricity bill.
Salim Mohamed said that on June 9, he’d phoned Parker and said he had found a new tenant, who wanted to have his business up and running on June 12. On June 11, Parker and the Mohamed brothers met and agreed to immediately terminate the lease. Parker then handed over the keys.
But the next day, the new tenant found the locks broken and Ismail in the store. Salim Mohamed then laid a charge of housebreaking and malicious damge to property against Parker at Grassy Park police station.
In her judgment, Judge Ndita found it difficult to accept that Parker had agreed to leave. Her reasons included the fact he had just paid the rent for June; it was unlikely that Parker would have agreed to leave premises he had occuped for 13 years on just two or three days’ notice; and the laying of a harassment complaint “does not accord with consent”.
The judge ordered the Mohameds to return vacant occupation of the store to Parker, and to pay costs.
Hishaam Mohamed said that he and his brother had intended to appeal against the ruling.
“But an out-of-court settlement has been reached.”
Parker said yesterday: “The judgment has given me freedom of mind.”
daneel.knoetze@inl.co.za
Cape Argus