Francois Cillié told the Middelburg Observer that he bought a house in Robertson Street on an auction in December. The occupant of the house, Frank Greeff, is also the previous owner who fell behind on his bond payments.

After he was notified of the sale by Mr Cillié, he refused to leave the house before an eviction order was served.

Mr Cillié said that he decided it would be humane to wait until after Christmas to serve the order. According to him a bailiff notice of the sale and an eviction order, has since been delivered to Mr Greeff. His lawyer is currently waiting for a court date for the order to be ratified.

On Wednesday, 15 January, Mr Cillié’s mother-in-law, drove past the house and saw vehicles loading plants from the property. Mr Cillié asked his son Hayden, to keep an eye on the house the next day.

It was not long before he received a call from his son saying that two pickup trucks entered the premises and were busy unearthing and loading palm trees. His son pulled his vehicle in front of the property gate, preventing the vehicles inside from exiting the premises.

“If we allowed them to leave the premises, we would have had a strong case of theft. But then the palm trees would have to be kept at the police station and probably would have died. My sole objective was protecting my property,” says Mr Cillié who estimates that the palm trees are worth at least R4 000 each.

Mr Greeff locked the gate, preventing anyone from going in or out. He insisted that he was the legal owner of the property.

Trapped inside, and in the middle of the property dispute, was Luqman Mahommed. On one of his vehicles had loaded the disputed palm trees.

Mr Cillié called the police to the property to open a case of theft. When they arrived, Mr Greeff refused them access to the property, but could not produce the title deed for the property he claimed to be in possession of when asked to do so.

Mr Mahommed, who at first sight of the journalists ran to hide behind a pillar to prevent his photo being taken, later said that he was an innocent victim.

He was under the impression that the plants belonged to Mr Greeff, whom he got to know as a regular client at his business Hassen’s Tyres.

“I am buying the stuff from him to try and help him. He has got nothing left this guy,” explained Mr Mahommed.

Shortly after the Middelburg Observer’s arrival at the house, the bakkie with the palm trees, backed up into the garden and started unloading and replanting the trees.

Mr Greeff, aggressively kept on insisting that the property belongs to him and refused even police officers entrance, forcing them to request more senior officers to the scene. Mr Cillié and police officers’ attempts to explain to Mr Greeff that the house belongs to the bank until it was paid off, and that the bank has since sold it to Mr Cillié because he did not meet his payment obligations, fell on deaf ears.

Mr Mahommed said that he was unaware that the house was sold when he loaded the plants. Even he tried to explain to Mr Greeff the property belongs to the bank until paid off in full.

“I am sorry, I did not know. That is why I planted the trees back as soon as I found out. On my way to the property I was wondering if it was not the same house that went on auction, but my father assured me that it was not.”

Mr Cillié however said that he found this hard to believe.

“He was at the auction when I bought the house. His father walked over to shake my hand and congratulate me after I bought the house. How could he not know?”

When the palm trees were planted back in their original spots, and after loading a water fountain and several large potted plants in their place, Mr Mahommed asked to leave the premises, saying that the fight about who the property belongs to does not concern him.

Pot plants are seen as movable assets and is not included in a sale where as plants planted in the garden are seen as fixed assets.

Mr Cillié agreed to let him go but threatened to hold him liable should the palm trees not survive the ordeal.

After some convincing by Mr Mahommed, Mr Greeff allowed Mr Cillié and his son Hayden access to the property to walk through the house and the back yard. At that stage a police officer has already left the scene to obtain a warrant.

“We are excited about the property. The house is beautiful and situated in a good area,” said Mr Cillié who plans to renovate the house before selling it again. He promised to keep the Middelburg Observer up to date on the progress of the palms.