Sunbird Village housing estate in Elspark, Germiston
It never rains but pours for alleged bogus lawyer Henrieta de Ru, who has all along apparently been used by the Sunbird Village Board of Trustees to terrorise homeowners living at the housing estate situated in Elspark, Germiston.
This as a the University of South Africa UUnisa) has launched an investigation into de Ru’s unauthorised paid legal work while at the same time the South African Police Service ( SAPS) have also opened a case of fraud against her for allegedly misrepresenting herself as an Advocate of the High Court.
It has now emerged that members of the Sunbird Village Board of Trustees, who are self-appointed individuals according to the homeowners, failed to attend a special general meeting scheduled for this past Saturday 18 July 2026, whereby their removal from their positions as members of the board of trustees was top of the agenda.
According to the aggrieved homeowners, there was no attendance register for the AGM held on 13 June 2026.
“It is shocking to us as homeowners that a woman working for management agent Selection Estate signed a bogus attendance register on our behalf without our consent, and this is equal to fraud,” said the homeowners.
The homeowners are concerned that Selection Estate is claiming that it records minutes of meetings without first notifying homeowners.
One homeowner who preferred to to remain anonymous told Tshwane Talks that he bought his house in November 2019 at the Sunbird Village housing estate at a time he and his wife were unemployed but the levies were affordable at that time.
“In 2020 during Covid 19 my wife and I could not pay consistently and the Sunbird Village Body Corporate obtained a court judgment against us and we ended up paying up R15 280 into the account of the Body Corporate for the debt, but be that as it may the Body Corporate was granted a court order through which our moveable assets were sold at an auction,” he said.
“In 2022 we realised that we were now owing R74 000 and even though we had made payment arrangements, our electricity usage was reduced to 15 units instead of being standard,” he said.
He explained that in 2023 he and his wife were placed under debt restructuring and subjected to an unopposed, provisional sequestration order which was subsequently made permanent in February 2026 after being informed that they now owed R192 000, yet they had been under the impression that they only owed R74 000 which they were paying off consistently with the assistance of a debt restructuring company.
“We feel like we have been bullied, harassed, humiliated and emotionally abused,” he lamented.
Another homeowner Leon Marais told Tshwane Talks that he has been staying at Sunbird Village since 2021 and that he has been intimidated, spoken down to and abused by the trustees of Sunbird Village.
“I bought my property in cash and over the past few years I have been forced to pay R10 000 fines each time regarding frivolous charges like my dog barking or my son making a noise,” he said.
Marais insisted that he pays levies every month and that when he, for example asks as to when his house would be painted, he never gets a response from the trustees and his walls are now dirty, but nothing gets done about that.
“The trustees don’t care about us, yet they are the people we had thought would help us when the need arose; they are just using our money and we therefore want change in this place regarding members of the board of trustees,” said Marais.
“I feel like a tenant in this place; like I’m renting a place here and I must point out that in most cases during weekends my son and I are not in our house for fear of abuse by the trustees, and I would rather go to my friends or cousins’ homes, but even though I only cook at night in my home and don’t have appliances that consume lots of electricity, I get charged 400 kilowatts a month, and to be honest this place is unihabitable for me,” lamented Marais.
“I don’t know where this electricity bill comes from because I am basically never here to consume the electricity that I am charged for,” he said.
Yet another homeowner described how his electricity was cut off in May 2022 after falling behind with his levy payments.
“I don’t believe the trustees have the legal authority to enter my property, access my distribution board ( DB box) and disconnect my electricity without a court order, and I believe this amounts to trespass as well as unlawful interference with my property,” he said.
“Although I have paid R130 000 towards my levy, my outstanding balance account continues to increase due to interests and administration charges,” he lamented.
“In 2024 I lodged an application with CSOS and an order was issued, which I believe some of its parts have not been complied with because my understanding is that the attorneys acting for the body corporate were requested to remove certain administration charges from my debt, this as they were not registered debt collectors, yet debt collectors’ fees still reflect in my account,” he griped.
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