23 August 2021 – LRC ensures return of home to rightful owner

For Immediate Release

23 August 2021

LRC ensures return of home to rightful owner

JOHANNESBURG – The Legal Resources Centre represented Mr. Tefo Malepe and his son Mr. Phiri Malepe today in the Johannesburg High Court in an application to restore ownership of Mr. Malepe’s property, lost in 2008 as a result of the fraudulent Brusson Scheme.

Mr. Malepe and his late wife Mrs. Malepe were victims of the Brusson Finance Scheme, which was declared illegal by the Free State High Court in 2010 in the case of Ditshego and others v Brusson Finance (Pty) Ltd and Others.

In the 2015 judgment of ABSA v Moore, as confirmed by the Constitutional Court in Absa v Moore and Another in 2016, the courts found that the scheme was unlawful, of no force or effect and subsequently set aside. The Brusson victims in that case, the Moores, were declared the rightful owners of their property and the mortgage bond in the name of the investor was set aside. The law is therefore clear, and we have been using the Moore judgment to achieve the same outcome for the rest of our clients.

We therefore approached the High Court to seek an order to have the Johannesburg Deeds office, named as the third respondents in this matter, to restore title over our client’s property and effectively cancel all the transfers that had occurred as a result of this scheme in terms of section 6(1) of the Deeds Registries Act No 47 of 1937.

The court agreed with us and accordingly, an order was granted, as prayed for by our clients. We welcome the decision by the High Court.

[ENDS]

Issued by the Legal Resources Centre

Media Enquiries:

Cell: 068 584 2442 / Email: thabo@lrc.org.za