Family locked inside house for two days by land lord

An angry landlord exacted a strange punishment on a family who failed to pay their rent when he had the doors of the house they were renting welded, so they were locked in.

The Voice reported that the family-of-six were barricaded inside their Mmopane Block One home for the whole weekend and were only released when Mogoditshane police set them free on Sunday afternoon.

Davids Mooke, 44, got the shock of his life when he arrived home on Saturday morning and discovered that the locks had been changed overnight and the doors sealed, leaving him shut out and his family locked in.

Speaking to The Voice a visibly upset Mooke fumed, "The landlord welded the burglar doors on the door frames, changed the locks and then locked my family inside the house."

Although the landlord, Sekete Khumiso, declined to comment on the drastic action, Mooke denied that his family refused to pay rent and claimed they were merely P100 short. However he claims that Khumiso rejected the rent and demanded the full amount instead.

"Our rentals is P2 000 monthly. On Friday we paid P1 900 to the landlord but she refused the money and decided to call her boyfriend to weld my family in on Saturday morning," he said.

Mooke's girlfriend, 44-year-old Agnes Pitlagano, who was one of the people imprisoned inside the house, said the incident had traumatised her family.

"I feared they could have set the house on fire while welding as the doors are close to the curtains," she said.

Pitlagano added that Khumiso's bizarre behavior did not stop at locking them in the house, saying, "On Sunday morning while we were stuck inside the house, the landlord brought church members to the house, splashing water all over the yard," – action that an emotional Pitlageno described as ‘a threat to kill'.

Mmopane Chief, Tobara Radikoko who was present at the locked house, said Khumiso should be reported for ‘her evil actions'.

"It's my first time to witness people being welded inside the house for failing to pay rent," said the chief.

Station Commander for Mogoditshane police, Nkwebi Chilisa confirmed they had spoken to the landlord but had not laid any charges against her.

"She informed us that she had long told the family to evict the house. Furthermore,she said she knocked for a long period of time before sealing the house. She told us she even knocked on the windows and, when no one answered, concluded there was no one inside the house," said Chilisa.

The Station Commander concluded by advising the family to pay their agreed rent.