All is not well with actress and presenter of SABC 3’s The Afternoon Express Bonnie Mbuli, a fall out with her real estate agent ending in acrimonious circumstances.
Mbuli says that the agents of her landlord have treated both her and her Zimbabwean nanny unfairly after they moved into a house in Mowbray. She claims she needs a live-in nanny due to her hectic work schedule, although this has been more than a hassle to sort out with the letting agents. Here’s IOL:
The actress said she emailed a copy of her 20-year-old nanny’s passport to the landlord, but they wanted to see her work visa.
“They told me I am harbouring an illegal immigrant and that I’m unethical and breaking the law. They then gave me a week to sort this all out,” said Mbuli.
“That’s when I contacted a litigation lawyer because I felt it was becoming a race issue.”
Mbuli says the one-week deadline for her nanny to get a work visa was unreasonable.
“On Wednesday they called me to say that people were coming to view the house, and true to form, people rocked up there on Saturday,” she said.
Bonnie took to Twitter to voice her frustrations and found many people sympathised with her troubles:
“Black people told me that this is a normal occurrence in Cape Town,” she said.
“[They say] when they view apartments they actually take white people with them because otherwise they won’t get the place they want.”
The estate agent has now hit back at her claims and categorically denied that race was involved in the drama that unfolded:
[Marc] Lunau said: “I’m representing the property owner and there is a clause in the lease that says foreigners need to provide the correct documentation.
“When she [Mbuli] moved in it was just her and a child listed.
“Later she changed the occupancy details and couldn’t provide us with proof that this person is in the country legally.”
Mbuli will now move out at the end of November and ended with this on her Twitter account:
“At the end of the day this is happening in Cape Town, and if me speaking about it brings about change, from the people that can change these things then that’s a good thing,” she said…
“Now I’m tired, my spirit is broken, I just want peace so I’m gonna move out with my sanity. They get away with it and life just moves on…”
[source:iol]
