A long-running turf war over who controls a Kimberley school gym has ended in a courtroom defeat for a private fitness operator, found by the Northern Cape High Court to have unlawfully deprived the school of access to its own training facility.
Deputy judge president Mmathebe Phatshoane has ordered Hansen Elite Wellness and its director, personal trainer Helgard Hansen, to “forthwith restore” the Northern Cape High School’s free use of the gym every weekday afternoon and to pay the school’s legal costs.
The ruling follows months of warring between the school and Hansen that started when the personal trainer in January told the school’s rugby coaches that pupils would no longer be allowed into the gym unless he granted “permission”. He warned the school that he would call the police if any children attempted to enter the property without his authorisation.
The school responded with an urgent spoliation application ― a legal remedy under South African law that restores possession of property to a party who has been unlawfully dispossessed of it.
The school told the court that Hansen had taken the law into his own hands and effectively seized the gym facility — known as the NHC Muscle Jungle — despite having no right to exclude pupils or staff.
The gym sits on a portion of land long used by Northern Cape High School for sport. Originally owned by the Kimberley Pirates Club, the property became the subject of litigation in 2008 involving the club, the Sol Plaatje Municipality, the school and its governing body. That dispute was settled, with the municipality becoming the registered owner but granting the school’s Adnitor Trust undisturbed use of a defined section of the sports ground.
According to the school, this included the ground on which a bus-parking shed stood. The shed was later converted — using funds from the National Lotteries Commission and parent donations — into the current gym.
The school stressed that though the trust features heavily in the property’s history, its sole purpose is to benefit the school, not to conduct commercial dealings that displace learners’ access.
The school said that long before Hansen arrived, pupils routinely used the gym. In 2020, rugby coordinator Zandré Swartz arranged with Hansen — who was at that stage working as a personal trainer at Virgin Active Kimberley — to help train some of the school’s teams after hours.
In terms of the agreement, Hansen would be paid a fee agreed with individual coaches. The school argued that this was never a lease, nor did Hansen control access to the building. He was simply allowed to train teams during set times.
But by late 2024 the relationship deteriorated sharply. Hansen told the school he had concluded a lease with the Adnitor Trust, giving his company rights to the gym. He circulated a pricing document setting out what he intended to charge players for training.
The final rupture came on January this year, when Hansen informed Swartz by WhatsApp that the school’s rugby teams “no longer had his permission” to use what he described as “his facility”.
Hansen, however, told a very different story.
He claimed he was involved in transforming the old bus shed into a gym back in 2020, alongside two school employees who at the time ran the non-profit Northerns Rugby Academy. He said he provided equipment, sourced donors and had always exercised exclusive control: locking up every night, opening each morning and allowing access only to those who arranged it with him.
He also insisted that any use of the gym by school teams was part of a 2020 agreement, later confirmed in 2021, under which coaches had to contract directly with him for training services. According to his version, no pupil ever trained there independently. All sessions were controlled and billed.
Two trustees of the Adnitor Trust supported Hansen’s stance, saying the trust bought some of the equipment. They said the municipality had never earmarked the ground exclusively for school use.
Hansen and his business, as the respondents, tried to have large portions of the school’s affidavit struck out as irrelevant or hearsay.
But judge Phatshoane dismissed the complaint, noting that much of the disputed material related to the historical context of the property, which was central to the dispute. The affidavit had been properly confirmed by the then-principal and other individuals involved.
Where allegations were irrelevant, the respondents still failed because they could not show any prejudice. Judges, Phatshoane remarked, routinely disregard irrelevant matter.
At the heart of the case was whether the school had been “despoiled” of possession and whether the law should restore possession to the school on grounds that it had been unlawfully deprived of the gym facilities, without the ownership or contractual rights having been fairly tested.
Hansen’s lawyers argued that the school did not have the kind of “exclusive possession” required for a spoliation order, pointing to cases where mere access or shared usage did not qualify.
But the judge found those cases were different. In this matter, the school had long enjoyed undisturbed use of the gym. Pupils had the right to train there regularly; the facility was created for the school’s benefit; and until January this year, its teams used it freely.
The fact that Hansen also used the gym, or that private clients might also have had access, did not negate the school’s quasi-possession. What mattered was that the school had physical, peaceful use until Hansen blocked it abruptly.
By revoking “permission” that he did not lawfully hold and threatening police action, the court held that Hansen had acted unilaterally and wrongfully.
Phatshoane ordered that the school immediately be restored to its normal weekday training slot from 3pm to 5pm. Hansen and his company were ordered to cover the school’s legal costs.
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