A disabled landowner at the centre of a property dispute in the Klein Karoo town of Calitzdorp says he is living in fear of his angry neighbours who twice attacked him with stones.
Pieter Rossouw, 71, who walks with the aid of a cane, insists he is the victim in a stand-off over plots that he is selling to two neighbours. He claims both have thrown stones at him, prompting a complaint to the police.
On one occasion, a rock narrowly missed his 95-year-old mother while she was sitting on his stoep, Rossouw claims.
Last week the Sunday Times reported on the four-year dispute between Rossouw and neighbours Lynne Lexow and Shaun and Adelle Vorster, which stems from a stalled sub-division process involving the Kannaland municipality.
Rossouw is selling portions of his smallholding on the outskirts of the town but paperwork glitches have infuriated the would-be buyers, who believe they have been hoodwinked.VERBAL ABUSE
Lexow and the Vorsters live on the affected properties in structures they have built themselves. They deny harassing Rossouw and have given him an ultimatum to register their properties or face a damages suit.
In a written response to Sunday Times queries, Rossouw said the delay in registering the properties related to the lapsing of previous sub-division rights - of which he was unaware when selling.
"When the attorneys requested the necessary documents from the municipality for the new title deeds and clearance certificates as well as the documents from the surveyor, a lengthy delay was created on the side of the municipality and the surveyor," Rossouw said.
He said that he had nevertheless allowed Lexow and the Vorsters to live on the properties rent-free. He also detailed verbal abuse and a stone-throwing incident when a stone "as big as half a brick" almost hit his mother on the head.
Lexow and the Vorsters deny intimidating their neighbour and say they have had to live like paupers pending finalisation of the sale...