The money is owed to Absa bank and the politician has failed to pay the monthly instalment of R10 500.
Former Mpumalanga ANC provincial deputy chairman Charles Makola is set to lose his R1.6 million property in eMalahleni after he failed to pay R1.3m he owed to Absa.
The bank made available a facility of R1.3m to Makola, and he had agreed to pay a minimum of R10 500 in monthly instalments.
Court papers show that Makola failed to pay the instalments and, by November 2017, he owed over R1.32 million for it, IOL reports. He asked the judge not to allow the house to be taken from him as he will not have an alternative accommodation.
Absa in court had demanded that Makola must pay the outstanding R1.32m at an interest rate of 9.25% beginning from November 2018.
But Makola failed and now Absa has won the battle to force a sale of the home and recover what is due to them.
Makola had put his Witbank’s Extension 10 residence up as security for a private banking account he used for a period of 6 years.
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But Judge Hein Brauckmann was not convinced by Makola’s explanation of why he was not able to service the facility after using it for six years, and owing Absa more than when the agreement was entered into.
Makola told the court that Absa had closed the account and, as a result, he was prejudiced as the bank breached its own agreement with him.
He argued that this led to him being unable to verify the correct amount outstanding under the agreement and attempts to reopen the account were unsuccessful, with no response from Absa, he told the court.
“For present purposes, it is appropriate to record that I am unable to secure alternative accommodation for myself, my wife and children should the immovable property be declared specially executable and subsequently sold by the plaintiff (Absa),” Makola told the court.
“Notwithstanding the immense upset and trauma that it could cause to my wife and children,” he said.
The value of Makola’s property was R1.6m and its forced sale value was just over R1.06m, which is less than the outstanding debt, while he also owed about R9 000 in rates and taxes.
Judge Brauckmann ordered that an amount of R1.43m be set as a reserve price for the property.
The judge rejected Makola’s argument that his right to adequate housing would be compromised if the home is taken from him.
Brauckmann said Makola did not provide sufficient details in his argument with regard to his right to housing or the reserve price that needed to be set by the court.
(edited by MLM, with IOL)
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