Frustrated man vows to go to High Court after losing appeal

Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Wednesday September 3, 2014 16:12

Tsholofelo gave Ratsie two cows as per agreement. However, Ratsie did not give him the land. Tsholofelo apparently gave Ratsie the two cows to redeem himself in a stock theft arrest. However, when he was released from custody, he didn’t give Tsholofelo the cows.

“When I gave him the cows, I brought a contract that the police read for him before he could sign because he couldn’t read. I did that because previously I had given him some money and made verbal agreements which he did not comply with,” explained Tsholofelo.

He said Ratsie had given him the field’s certificate as assurance and promised he would change the names as soon as he was released from the holding cells. Tsholofelo stated that he was shocked when Ratsie turned on him and accused him of having forcefully taken the certificate from him.

“I was hurt that after I narrated to court what happened, the accused turned on me and told court he wanted to withdraw the agreement. I was also disappointed that the kgosi agreed with him. He (the kgosi) said breach of contract is allowed in customary law,” said Tsholofelo. He stated that he wants the Court of Appeal to force Ratsie to change the names on the certificate as agreed or return his cows.

In his defense, Ratsie told court that he wanted to replace the cows he took from the complainant. He explained that he took the cows from Tsholofelo to settle a debt with the people who had accused him of stocktheft.

He, however, argued that Tsholofelo had been reluctant to pay him previous debts and he decided to breach their agreement.

The Court of Appeal judges led by Mothibe Linchwe ordered Tsholofelo to take the two cows that Ratsie wanted to repay him with. Linchwe reportedly told Tsholofelo to accept that he had been cheated and take the repayment cows.

“We wonder what you want this court to do as you can see that this man has nothing to offer you.

The court orders you to immediately give him his certificate back and take the two cows. Failure to comply with the court orders will result in appropriate action taken against you,” Linchwe said at the time. Tsholofelo was given 30 days to appeal.