Pensioner goes to court over lost house

AN Otjomuise pensioner who claimed to have been duped into selling his house to his ‘tenant’, and who was subsequently evicted from the property, is approaching the courts to reverse the alleged sale.

Fillimon Hoxobeb was evicted from what he called his house by Tobias van Wyk, who according to Hoxobeb only rented the Otjomuise house that he had owned for the past 14 years.The supposed sale of the house is set to be reviewed by the courts, Hoxobeb’s legal representative says.Hoxobeb claimed the agreement between the two was that Van Wyk would rent the main house and that he would live in a shack on the property.For four years the two co-existed peacefully until Hoxobeb was evicted on a rainy night in December by the City Police with a court order.’To this very day it saddens me every time I think of my situation,’ Hoxobeb told The Namibian on Wednesday. The story is a classic example of how a lack of education can be an individual’s downfall. Hoxobeb said he took Van Wyk in and paid for his last years in high school to a point where he started regarding him as a son and did not find it unusual to rent the house to him for the past four years.’The agreement was that he rents the house and I stay at the back of the house with my grandchildren. One day he came to me with papers to sign and told me that it was a lease agreement, only to be surprised when City Police came and evicted me from my own home. The Police told me I did not have any rights to the property since I sold it to Van Wyk,’ Hoxobeb related.The misfortune of Hoxobeb drew the attention of African Labour and Human Rights Centre director August Maletzky, who vowed to assist Hoxobeb in ‘reclaiming what rightfully belongs to him’.’Van Wyk’s case might appear legit to the naked eye, but any law-oriented individual can immediately see the flaws in it, of which the main flaw is the lack of witnesses from Hoxobeb’s side in such a legally binding agreement.When you buy property, both the seller and buyer should provide witnesses. However in this case, only Van Wyk had people to prove that he indeed bought the house, but how come the lawyers who were at the signing did not make it clear to the old man that he needed people to co-sign with him on the sale if indeed it was such?’ commented Maletzky.’Hoxobeb is illiterate and was taken advantage of by Van Wyk and lawyers. We intend to get to the bottom of this case and prove the innocence of our client before the law. All we want is to see an injustice against a vulnerable elderly man corrected,’ Maletzky said.Hoxobeb is confident that he will get his house back and was grateful that Maletzky took an interest in his case.In the meantime Hoxobeb has rebuilt his shack outside the yard of his former house.’This where my family and I will be staying until the case is finalised,’ Hoxobeb said.Van Wyk told The Namibian in December when he evicted Hoxobeb from the property that he was the legal owner of the house and that he did not acquire the property fraudulently as claimed by Hoxobeb.