Paki Affidavit
Friday 14 September 2007
IN THE HIGH COURT OF SOUTH AFRICA (Witwatersrand Local Division)
Case No
In the matter between:
LINDIWE MAZIBUKO First applicant
GRACE MUNYAI Second applicant
JENNIFER MAKOATSANE Third applicant
SOPHIA MALEKUTU Fourth applicant
VUSIMUZI PAKI Fifth applicant and
THE CITY OF JOHANNESBURG First respondent
JOHANNESBURG WATER (PTY) LTD Second respondent THE MINISTER OF WATER AFFAIRS AND FORESTRY Third respondent
AFFIDAVIT
I, the undersigned,
VUSUMUZI PAKI
do hereby make oath and say:
1. I am the fifth applicant in this matter. I am an unemployed 40-year-old male, currently residing at 168b Mandlempisi St. Phiri, Soweto, Gauteng, 1818 (“the property”).
2. Save where otherwise stated, or where the contrary appears from the context, the facts contained in this affidavit are within my personal knowledge and are, to the best of my knowledge and belief, true and correct.
3. I have moreover read the founding affidavit of Lindiwe Mazibuko filed in this matter and confirm that to the best of my knowledge and belief, the allegations made in the affidavit of Ms Mazibuko, insofar as they refer and relate to me, are true and correct.
4. I own the property, on which a house has been constructed of bricks and mortar, as well as 3 shacks of various materials. My household consists of 11 people, whose personal details are as follows:
Name Age Relationship with Owner Vusumuzi Paki 41 Applicant (Owner) Patrick Paki 44 Brother and co-owner Mboneni Mdlalose 34 Tenant (shack 1) Matseko Makgethe 26 Tenant (shack 1) Ntokozo Makgethe 1yr 7mts Mboneni and Makgethe’s son Nokuthula Makgethe 19dys Mboneni and Makgethes’ daughter Justice Mavuso 46 Tenant (shack 2) Victoria Mavuso 46 Tenant (shack 2) Zakhe Mavuso 27 Justice’s son (shack 2) Tobias Letheane 26 Tenant (shack 3) Mabakwena Letheane 18 Tobias’s girlfriend (shack 3)
5. I was born on the property in 1965 and have resided since then with my brother, Patrick Paki. Patrick is employed at the Molapo Technical College as a security officer and maintenance. I am not sure how much he earns.
6. I have four shacks in the yard on my property. Each shack owner pays a rental of R100.00 per month. There are a total of 10 people living in these shacks.
7. On 27th March 2005 at about 2 o’clock in the morning Victoria Mavuso woke me up to tell me that a fire had broken out in Malefo Tamane’s shack. Malefo has since moved out of my property after this incident. She has recently been replaced by Tobias and his family.
8. At the time when the Malefos’ shack was burning, there were two of her children, Katleho Tamane (02yrs) and Dimpho Tamane (09yrs) inside.
9. I found other tenants already outside trying to extinguish the fire by using rainwater from the ditch just outside the stoop.
10. We quickly connected the hosepipe and extinguished the fire. The water flow was very slow. I do not know why the water pressure is so low, but it has been like this since the pre-payment meter system was installed.
11. The water from the ditch was more useful than the water from the hosepipe. The tap water extinguished about 60% of the fire, before it ran out. At the time when it ran out, the fire was not completely out.
12. None of us has a fire extinguisher in our house/shacks. We tried to call the nearest police station, being Moroka Police Station but no one answered the phone. We then called AfriGuard Securities, who were patrolling in the area. They called the police, who arrived more than an hour after we had extinguished the fire. The time then was about 4 am.
13. None of us knew that there was anyone in the in shack when it was burning. We discovered in the early hours of the morning, when the owner of the shack, Ms Tamane told us that both her children had been burnt to death in the fire.
D E P O N E N T
I CERTIFY that this affidavit was signed and sworn to before me at on this the day of 2006, by the deponent who acknowledged that he knew and understood the contents of this affidavit, had no objection to taking this oath, considered this oath to be binding on his conscience and who uttered the following words: "I swear that the contents of this affidavit are true, so help me God". I certify that the Regulations contained in Government Notice R1258 of 21 July 1972, as amended, have been complied with.
____________________________ COMMISSIONER OF OATHS Name: Address: Capacity:
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