The head of Shell's global business processing centre, Busisiwe Mashiyi, was allegedly hounded out of Hout Bay, the upmarket Cape Town suburb, only eight months after moving there in 2012 because of her racist landlord, who ‘chased her like prey’, according to an acting judge. A Sunday Times report says Mashiyi complained to the Equality Court, sitting in the Wynberg Magistrate's Court, that Keith Watkins discriminated against her from the day he realised she was black.

Within three months of moving into Watkins' house, in a secure complex, Mashiyi began receiving e-mails from her landlord telling her to find ‘something more manageable’. What followed was a lengthy list of how Watkins continually badgered Mashiyi before she terminated the lease when the situation became untenable and moved to Constantia.

In 2015, the Equality Court ordered Watkins to apologise to Mashiyi in writing for unfairly discriminating against her for being a black woman. It also ordered him to pay her R30 000 in damages and foot the legal bill. Watkins appealed to the High Court.

He denied discriminating against Mashiyi and said he had been a professional landlord since 1992, managed eight properties, had had ‘people of colour as tenants’ and had never been accused of racism. The High Court, however, dismissed his appeal, with acting Judge Daniel Thulare saying: ‘He haunted (Mashiyi's) residence. He tracked and chased (her) like prey. He hounded her and refused to leave her. Watkins clearly clothed his conduct with borrowed robes, initially as concern for (Mashiyi's) welfare and later as concern for the upkeep of the property. Thulare also ordered Watkins to pay Mashiyi's legal costs for the appeal. Watkins' lawyer, Brendan Nielsen, reportedly told the Sunday Times: ‘My client is considering his options.’

Full Sunday Times report