Moneyweb reports that Standard Bank has failed in its attempt to obtain authorisation for the foreclosure of a mortgage bond it granted over the Sandton primary residence of SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi and his wife Noluthando.

The judgment highlighted the high legal costs that resulted from mortgage bond arrears and foreclosure, with the bank claiming more than R160,000 in legal costs from the couple – twice the value of their current mortgage bond repayment arrears. Judge Stuart Wilson said Standard Bank had placed nothing before him explaining why execution against the Vavis’ home was a proportionate means of recovering the arrears. On Tuesday, he postponed the application brought by the bank indefinitely and ordered that each party should pay its own costs. The Vavis owe around R1.68 million on their bond, and are in arrears to the tune of just over R85,000 – or around four months’ worth of instalments. Wilson noted: “The arrears were accumulated around three years ago, and since then the Vavis appear to have serviced their bond punctiliously while taking steps to reduce their arrears from just under R170,000 when the application was instituted to around R85,000 today. The latest home loan statement filed shows around 18 months of apparently perfect adherence to the Vavis’ obligations to pay their monthly instalments.” Wilson added that it was apparent from the affidavits that the bank had tied the resolution of this dispute to the settlement of the R160,000 in legal costs.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Roy Cokayne at Moneyweb

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