..as property dispute dating back decades lands in the Leribe Magistrate Court
By Kabelo Masoabi
A LONG-RUNNING dispute over a commercial property in Hlotse has landed before the Leribe Magistrate Court, where four daughters of the late Tšoanelo Lekena of Khanyane are challenging the validity of a lease issued in the name of prominent businessman Mahommed Abubaker.
The respondents in the matter are Yacoob Abubaker, Khairoonnish Abubaker, the Land Administration Authority (LAA) and the Attorney General Advocate Rapelang Motsieloa KC.
The applicants — Lebohang, Lerata, Limakatso and Liqabang Lekena — claim their late father was officially allocated title deed to plot number 13875, situated in Hlotse town, Lisemeng, in 1978, two years before his death.
According to the eldest daughter, Lebohang Lekena, their father later bequeathed the property to his children before his death.
She told the court that the family only discovered that a lease had allegedly been issued to Mr Abubaker in 2001 when she went to the local government offices in 2013 to register the property in the family’s name.
The daughters are now calling on Mr Abubaker, whom they said they understand to be based in Ficksburg, South Africa, to produce documents showing how the property was allegedly transferred to him.
The daughters’ legal representative, Adv Mole Khumalo, put it to Ms Lebohang that Mr Abubaker claims to have entered into negotiations over the property with the late Mr Lekena in the mid-1990s and to have occupied the premises peacefully for the past 34 years.
Ms Lebohang disputes this account, saying her father had died around 1980 — more than a decade before the alleged negotiations.
“We want him to produce the documents showing how the transfer was effected, ultimately resulting in the registration of a lease in 2001, given that our father, the registered holder of the title deed, had already passed away,” she told the court.
“Does this mean he rose from the grave and sold the plot 21 years after his death?” she asked rhetorically.
Family dispute
The court also heard that the property dispute goes beyond the daughters’ claim against Mr Abubaker, with divisions within the Lekena family over the use and occupation of the land further complicating the matter.
Ms Lebohang told the court that when her father initially acquired the plot, he allocated it to his son and his second wife, Makhokolotso “Honey” Lekena, whom he had married after the death of his first wife.
Following the death of his son, however, Mr Lekena changed his decision and named his four daughters and Makhokolotso as joint beneficiaries of the property.
The daughters — Lebohang, Lerata, Limpho and Nkareng — were therefore listed alongside Honey as beneficiaries.
According to Ms Lebohang, their father’s intention was for the beneficiaries to establish businesses on the property as a means of supporting themselves.
She said that after their father’s death, disagreements emerged within the family, resulting in Ms Makhokolotso withdrawing from the arrangement after allegedly fearing for her safety.
“A meeting was held by the daughters, during which it was agreed that the eldest daughter, Lebohang, would serve as the temporary holder of the plot on behalf of the others while arrangements were made to formally register it in their names by transferring ownership from their father,” she said.
“It was also agreed that any decision concerning the plot would require the collective approval of all the daughters and that no individual would have the authority to make such decisions alone.”
Ms Lebohang further disputed any suggestion that Ms Makhokolotso could have sold the property to Mr Abubaker.
She told the court that when Ms Makhokolotso withdrew as a beneficiary, she wrote a letter identifying the four daughters as the sole heirs to the property.
“It would also have been impossible for Honey to sell the plot to Mr Abubaker because, in a letter she wrote when she excused herself from the matter, she identified the daughters as the sole heirs. I have that letter,” she said.
Dispute over occupation
Ms Lebohang also challenged Mr Abubaker’s claim that he had been in possession and occupation of the property for 34 years.
She told the court that the plot was used from 2013 until 2019 by her brother, who was a pensioner and rented the premises to motor mechanics.
“So, it is untrue that Mr Abubaker has occupied the land for 34 years,” she said.
According to Ms Lebohang, the family also sought the intervention of the then Leribe township chief in their dispute with Mr Abubaker.
She said the chief subsequently wrote a letter stating that he was unaware of any sale of the property and that, to the best of his knowledge, the plot belonged to the Lekena daughters.
The matter is continuing before Resident Magistrate Motšoene.
