A LANDLORD is in hot water after a one-and-half-year-old baby was locked in a house for 12 hours in a bid to force her parents to pay rent.
The baby's father Sello Lebea said an employee at CSI R ental, Shane Botha, locked up the house on Monday without checking if there was any one inside.
He locked the house while the baby was sleeping. The child's minder was also in the house. However the baby started crying hysterically when she could not see her parents.
Lebea's wife Olga said she pleaded with Botha to open the door so she could get to the baby but he allegedly refused. Police were called in around midnight and convinced Botha to open the door.
Lebea, a medical doctor, said he had informed CSI his rent would be late because medical aid schemes had paid out late that month.
"They have violated my child's rights, anything could have happened. I am suing them," Lebea said.
He said the lease contract did not state that the company "will lock your child inside if you skip a payment".
"That was racial and mean."
Lebea said he had been staying in the house for two years and had never skipped a payment.
"I want them to feel the pinch, they must learn not to treat people like dogs," he said.
His wife said it was traumatic for her to stand outside the house in the middle of the night while her baby was crying inside .
"If these people think that black people do not know their rights, then they have some coming, they must stop treating us like we are still in the apartheid era," she said.
Lebea was in the process of opening a case with the Midrand police at the time of going to print yesterday.
CSI Rentals manager Janine Greyvensteyn said she knew nothing about the incident.
"It is not our company policy to do that, I will not comment further," she said before hanging up the phone.
tshehleb@sowetan.co.za
For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays
Landlord locks up crying baby in house for 12 hours - Dad told firm rent will be late
A LANDLORD is in hot water after a one-and-half-year-old baby was locked in a house for 12 hours in a bid to force her parents to pay rent.
The baby's father Sello Lebea said an employee at CSI R ental, Shane Botha, locked up the house on Monday without checking if there was any one inside.
He locked the house while the baby was sleeping. The child's minder was also in the house. However the baby started crying hysterically when she could not see her parents.
Lebea's wife Olga said she pleaded with Botha to open the door so she could get to the baby but he allegedly refused. Police were called in around midnight and convinced Botha to open the door.
Lebea, a medical doctor, said he had informed CSI his rent would be late because medical aid schemes had paid out late that month.
"They have violated my child's rights, anything could have happened. I am suing them," Lebea said.
He said the lease contract did not state that the company "will lock your child inside if you skip a payment".
"That was racial and mean."
Lebea said he had been staying in the house for two years and had never skipped a payment.
"I want them to feel the pinch, they must learn not to treat people like dogs," he said.
His wife said it was traumatic for her to stand outside the house in the middle of the night while her baby was crying inside .
"If these people think that black people do not know their rights, then they have some coming, they must stop treating us like we are still in the apartheid era," she said.
Lebea was in the process of opening a case with the Midrand police at the time of going to print yesterday.
CSI Rentals manager Janine Greyvensteyn said she knew nothing about the incident.
"It is not our company policy to do that, I will not comment further," she said before hanging up the phone.
tshehleb@sowetan.co.za
For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending
Latest Videos