Although she could not recall the exact dates, the vision impaired elderly woman said that the old man, Isaka Taba, had never contributed towards the property. She told court last week that the old man came from Mookane and admitted that he had put the land in his name.
"I am still paying with my pension money towards it," she said.
Even her daughter, Mmaleuba William who was called as a witness said that they lived with her stepfather. She said they initially lived near the marketplace before being given a plot in a Self-Help Housing Agency (SHHA) area.
She said her mother was asked to bring her 'man' who was working in Kgalagadi at the time.
Mmaleuba said that when he did come, her stepfather filled his names. She said that Taba took care of her mother and her five siblings.
She said that when both her parents were unemployed social workers assisted them. Mmaleuba said that all of them moved out and later on when Taba passed on, he was buried by the social workers.
"I first saw Shadrack and his mother at the funeral and I am now surprised that he is saying that he was given the property by his uncle," she said. Seanokeng Lemmonye also reiterated that Taba and the old woman were together until they were separated by death.
However, a land overseer, Ezekiel Moatshe of Naledi South said when he came to Old Naledi in 1980 the couple lived together.
He said that many of the lands belonged to women but that SHHA required that to be eligible to get loans to develop one should be working.
"Most of these women were not working and they would be asked 'where do you work?' Whether they had a man and where he was working," Moatshe revealed.
He said that the men would then be required to register their names and in addition their wives and children. He said they never delved into whether one was legally married or not.
"I know this property to be owned by this old woman. The old man has passed on and the children have moved out," he said. "It may be written in his name but it is actually hers," he concluded.
