A Benoni man’s dream to build his mother a home crumbled after lawyers allegedly defrauded him of more than R400 000.
A Benoni man’s dream of building a house for his mother and his children has been shattered after lawyers allegedly defrauded him of more than R400 000.
Luka Khumalo from Wattville in Benoni, Ekurhuleni, claims that early last year he bought a stand for R150 000 in Villa Liza, Boksburg, Ekurhuleni.
The transaction was facilitated by his then-lawyer but after buying the land, they failed to give him a title deed.
He became suspicious and demanded his money back, but the lawyer and the property developer allegedly refused.
Lawyers allegedly defrauded him of more than R400 000
“After trying in vain to get my money back, I approached C Kgope Attorneys last October to assist me to buy another property in Benoni,” he said.
“I paid R300 000 to their trust account. Little did I know that they would also fail me. They showed me a piece of land with an unfinished structure and they wanted R350 000 for it.
“After I paid, they said they would give me half of the land, excluding the structure, and they refunded R50 000. Again, they failed to give me the title deed and that’s where the squabble started.”
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Khumalo said when he investigated the matter, he found that the land actually belonged to the municipality.
“I demanded my money back and the lawyers ignored my calls. When I went to their offices, they told me the owner of the law firm was not around,” he said.
“This has affected me very badly because I promised my mother that I would build a house for her and the five children that she is taking care of.
“I really don’t know what to do any more because it seems I will not be able to get the land where I can build the house for my family.”
Dream to build mother a home crumbled
He said his mother stays in a small three-roomed house with the children. “All I need now is my money back,” Khumalo said.
He said he reported the matter to the Legal Practice Council (LPC) and “they promised to look into my matter, but until today, they did not get back to me”.
The Citizen has seen bank statements showing the R300 000 paid to C Kgope Attorneys by Khumalo on 21 October.
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Attempts to get a comment from the owner of the law firm were unsuccessful as his employees refused to share his contact details and said he had not been seen at the office for a long time.
The employees conceded that Khumalo was owed money after he cancelled the agreement with the lawyers.
“Khumalo cancelled his request to be assisted to buy the property because the process was being delayed by the fact that we were still negotiating with the City of Ekurhuleni because the municipality was owed for rates and services,” said an employee.
Khumalo’s new legal representative Mabu Marweshe said: “We confirm that we are instructed to assist with the recovery of the money paid to the other lawyers.
Referred to Legal Practice Council for further investigations
“The Benoni matter was referred to the Legal Practice Council for further investigations and the other one is now subject to the police to investigate. We will also be reporting the matter to the City of Ekurhuleni for investigations, as the land that was sold to our client was found to belong to it.”
LPC spokesperson Kabelo Letebele said the complaint was lodged on 30 June but the complainant had failed to provide a signed offer of purchase or agreement of sale.
The LPC has given the attorney until 15 September to respond.
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