Zindzi Mandela’s 50th lavish birthday bash. But he is prepared to give her the benefit of the doubt – this time, after all, family members had paid him a substantial amount of money on her behalf late last year and she has promised to settle the rest of her debt with him.
Panico Protopapa was surprised to read how his problematic tenant Zindzi Mandela had thrown herself a lavish private 50th birthday bash – since she still owes him tens of thousands of rands in rent arrears.
“I stopped the eviction order because her family members helped her out and paid quite a big sum of money. They have also promised extra each month to settle the rent debt. “I may or may not be paid at the end of January, but we’ll see,” he told the Saturday Star this week.
It is not clear who paid for the daughter of Madiba’s A-list 50th birthday party at the Randlords nightclub in Joburg last Saturday, but insiders have said the entire bash was sponsored.
More than 250 guests, from her mother Winnie to other relatives, politicians, local and international celebrities, attended the party where she was presented with a brand new silver Mercedes Benz from her father Nelson Mandela and her two-tier cake was wheeled out by US actor Morris Chestnut.
The guests, according to TimesLive, were handed two gift bags as they left, one containing a pair of Converse takkies, a Carol Boyes pewter picture frame and a CD, and the other a Joe Malone perfume.
Protopapa said he and Mandela had reached an out-of-court settlement at the end of last year. This is why he stopped the eviction order. Mandela is renting a property in Atholl, Joburg from Protopapa for which she is paying nearly R38 000 a month.
The grand house has five en-suite bedrooms, a cottage, big garden, pool, jacuzzi and high-quality fixtures and fittings. But Protopapa was forced to haul her to court when she failed to pay outstanding rent of up to R200 000.
In court papers, she said she had withheld rent because the house had been in a state of disrepair and had faulty electricity and plumbing.
But Protopapa denied this saying he had remodelled the house before she moved in two years ago and had charged her R32 500 a month. Her rent was only paid when her family members helped her out financially.
He said her mother Winnie Madikizela-Mandela once assisted her by paying R50 000 on her behalf. Later, her ex-husband, Zweli Hlongwane paid him R100 000 to reduce the outstanding rent that was owed.
Two years ago Mandela was accused of not paying rent for a R32 000-a-month property in Saxonwold.
She was also accused of trashing an upmarket rented house before walking off with some of her landlady’s expensive furniture. Businesswoman Michelle Cathrall told the Sunday Times at the time she at first had been “honoured” to let her furnished home to Mandela, but when her non-paying tenant finally left – after a court battle to evict her – the place “looked like a tsunami” had hit it.
Cathrall said her antique furniture had been ruined by water and heat damage; paint had been scraped off the walls; sandblasted floor tiles had been scratched beyond repair and expensive blinds had been removed and thrown on a pile of rotting garbage – with her DStv reception dish and the downpipe of one of the gutters.
The initial estimate of the damage amounted to R386 000.
Cathrall was granted an eviction order in October 2009 and Mandela was ordered to pay Cathrall’s costs for the application. – Saturday Star
Source: IOL News
