Brothers face eviction from family home

TWO elderly Limpopo brothers say they have been living a life of hell at the hands of their own relatives.

Philemon and James Thoka say they are facing eviction from the house owned by their late mother, who died in December last year.

The two live in Seshego near Polokwane. They are both unemployed and have been sharing a four-roomed house left for the family with nine other family members.

Before their mother died, she never had an opportunity to draw up a will to determine who should own the house. Now the family is embroiled in squabbles and the two brothers are on the receiving end.

While James, 63, sleeps in a makeshift room outside the house, he still endures the hardship of being called all sorts of names by his nephews and nieces. As for Philemon, 57, he has already become used to the kinds of insults hurled at him "on a daily basis".

"Of grave concern to us is that both nieces responsible for the situation were married in the past and have since returned home to claim [that] they own the house, which is not true because we have been staying in the house with our mother before she died," they said.

James used to work at the Polokwane Golf Club as a cleaner and retired due to ill-health. He claimed to have been paid for his illness and that his nieces had stolen the money.

Philemon worked at a car spares shop and was also declared unfit to work due to illness.

Philemon claimed he was assaulted by one of the nephews. He reported the matter to the police and obtained a protection order but the matter did not go any further in court. "It pains me to think of the situation [in] which we find ourselves at home. I sometimes wish it would be better if I died," said Philemon .

Police spokeswoman Lieutenant-Colonel Ronel Otto said they were not aware of the matter and said they would send officials to visit the family with a view "to get first-hand information".