Dozens of black families have allegedly been tricked into buying land on a Tshwane farm only for the stands to be later resold to other people –  multiple times.

Sowetan has spoken to at least four of the aggrieved people who bought stands on the Leeuwfontein Heights property. They accuse property owner Chantal la Cante of selling them stands for R70000 each and later selling the same land to others.

This apparently happened while they were still in the process of building houses on the land .

The farm, situated east of Pretoria, was apparently subdivided into 288 stands which were put up for sale as far back as three years ago.

The property has no roads and no access to water, with many of the property owners relying on boreholes. There was no sign of infrastructure despite construction of many of the houses, including double-storey houses, being under way.

Yesterday, when approached for comment at her home, La Cante came to the gate but refused to respond to Sowetan’s questions.

“F***ck off. I’m not the owner,” she screamed. She then went into her yard but returned shortly with three dogs in tow, while still hurling insults at the Sowetan team.

Later when Sowetan tried to call her La Cante said she was not allowed to comment.

La Cante said she was acting on behalf of the owner and director of Vuvu Bricks, Johannes Lombard. “Mr Lombard said I’m not allowed to speak to you and he will not speak to you either.”

La Cante said stands were sold and contracts were cancelled if people failed to make payments.

Lombard, however, said all questions must be directed to La Cante as she handles sales. “I can’t really comment on that. She handles the sales. I know that there was double sales but she sorted it out. There’s one or two left.”

Alice Tshabalala and her husband bought two stands on the property and paid a R50000 deposit but she was shocked to find out that one of the plots she owned was being sold again.

The couple built a double-storey house on one of the stands while the other stand was used mainly for parking.

She said the contract they had signed with La Cante stated that they could pay the rest of the amount within two years. However, they were surprised when people came to view the property despite the fact that they had built a house there already.

“Someone also came here claiming that they bought the stand in 2014 and it belongs to them,” Tshabalala said.

“She [La Cante] treats us like dogs and swears at us. She treats us like this because we are black people.”

Patrick Kiyemba said he paid a R60000 deposit for two stands, including one which belonged to his brother.

He said the property was bought by at least three other people. “One of them has already started building a house there. I warned him not to start building until these issues are sorted.”

Another couple said they had approached their lawyers after discovering that the land they were building a double-storey house on was put up for sale again despite them having paid R145000 for two stands.