VICTORIA KASANGA writes
@sunzambian
A Local court in Ndola has ordered a tenant to vacate the house after insulting the landlord, who had wondered why the state of her house had deteriorated.
The court further slapped a K800 fine on the tenant for the vulgar language which embarrassed the landlord.
The case involved Miriam Daka 55 of Kabushi Township who had sued her tenant Jacob Zulu 32 of Chinese complex for compensation of consults.
Apparently, Mr Zulu got upset when the landlord told his wife that they should move out of the house because they had destroyed the property.
Ms Daka told the court that Mr Zulu has been her tenant since 2017 and the two had never met in person as he was recommended to her by the precious tenant.
She said she was told that he was moving in with his younger brother and that the two were going to share the house.
Ms Daka said she did not have a problem with the idea since it was his younger brother and he was just alone, according to the information she was given.
“My tenant complained of damaged switches in in the house. He said he was going to deduct from the rentals to repair the switches of which I agreed,” she said.
Ms Daka said afterwards, she went to inspect the house and found the maid who showed her around and found pockets of cement stored in the bedrooms, floor tiles broken and the ceiling board dirty.
“When I asked his wife why the house was kept in bad shape, she got upset and started shouting at me saying the house was destroyed by the previous tenants,” she said.
The case came before Kabushi Local Court senior presiding magistrate Agnes Mulenga Muswema sitting with Mildred Namwizye and Evelyn Nalwizya
Ms Daka got upset and scolded the woman, but her mother got to her defense, saying there was no way a landlord could be talking to her daughter in the manner she did over a dirty house.
She gave the tenant’s wife two weeks to move out of the house, but they instead reported her to the Victim Support Unit where officers ruled that the family should be given three months to find another house instead.
Ms Daka said the time they moved in, she was told they would be sharing the house with the brother only but to her surprise, they were so many people in the house.
“After two weeks I received a phone call from my tenant telling me I was a foolish woman to think they were going to move out of the house. He said I could report him anywhere but he was not going to leave the house and continued insulting me,” she said.
In his statement, Mr Zulu said initially they lived well and that he have never met his landlord in person.
He said whatever was needed, he used to tell his wife who would later communicate with the landlord.
He said the house was already dirty at the time they moved in and needed to be painted and that so many things were destroyed even before they moved in.
“The problem is that our landlord frequently visits our home even when we are not around. She comes to check and even inspects bedrooms which is not supposed to happen. We can’t live in peace because she is ever trespassing in our house,” he said.
In passing judgement, the court ordered Mr Zulu to compensate Ms Daka K800 for insulting her in monthly instalments of K200 and ordered him to leave the house within two weeks.
