Habana won't speak to his 'fraudster' dad

Springbok rugby star Bryan Habana has not spoken to his "fraudster" father Bernie for more than three years.

This emerged in an affidavit by Bryan's mother Faith, who goes to court this week in a bid to save her Victory Park, Johannesburg, home from a disgruntled Cape Town woman who alleges that Habana conned her out of R1-million.

Nicola Gross previously won a court order against Bernie Habana to have his movable assets seized - including furniture and electronic goods - but they netted her only R9673.11. Now she is applying for an order to sell the Victory Park house, jointly owned by the Habanas, who are married in community of property.

Faith, a teacher, argues that the High Court in Johannesburg should not allow her house to be sold, but if it does she asks that she be allowed to sell it herself to secure a much-needed nest egg ahead of her retirement.

"I am innocent; no judgment was taken against me. I am currently 61 years old, I am going to retire soon and would have to go on state pension. Should there be any equity as indicated above it will assist me greatly when I go on pension ...

"He [Bryan] has nothing to do with this matter ... My son has not been on speaking terms with the first respondent [Bernie] for over three years," said Faith, adding that she was divorcing her husband.

She said her marriage disintegrated in 2011 "when I suspected that the first respondent and the applicant had an extra-marital affair".

Gross, speaking through her lawyer, Lawrence Whittaker, rejected the claim of a romantic link. In her court papers, she calls Bernie a "fraudster" who "lured me into making this investment with false promises which he patently didn't intend to keep".

Gross paid him R300000 and then R700000 in 2010 on the understanding that he would repay the capital plus a dividend yield of R45491 on maturity on February 28 2011.

Faith believes her estranged husband might be able to pay the debt, although Gross submitted documents showing that he was so far behind on repayments for three vehicles, including two Lexus convertibles, that in June 2012 he had been sent letters advising him to consider seeking debt counselling.

Meanwhile, a Johannesburg businessman has told the Sunday Times how Bernie had boasted to be well connected politically, even claiming to work undercover on delicate operations for the government.

After promising to bring in R6-billion in contracts and R80-million in capital, Bernie was allowed to buy a 37% stake in BES Africa Engineering and Management Consult for R380.

But then his capital injection dropped to R40-million, R5-million and finally nothing, said director Lesibe Modiba.

"And he wanted signing power on our account, but luckily we didn't get around to organising it."

Modiba said he had not done due diligence on Bernie because "being Bryan's father, I took him at face value".

"He claimed he had been retired for seven years but he had been asked by politicians to come back to set up BEE companies," said Modiba, who also gave Bernie R50000, ostensibly to buy a table at the Jacob Zuma breakfast at Mangaung.

"He's a fast talker; he doesn't give you time to think," said Modiba, recalling Bernie's explanation after his Lexus disappeared in December.

"He was driving different cars. He said it was because he was on a secret mission for the government. He was travelling incognito."

As a result of falling for Bernie's stories, Modiba's company had made the mistake of not applying for tenders.

Now he and his fellow shareholders want Bernie out of the company.

"I would rather have anybody," said Modiba.

When contacted by the Sunday Times, Bernie said he was in a meeting and would phone back, which he did not do. His phone was switched off later and he failed to reply to messages.