The owner of a cat who is adamant that it is unfair discrimination to rule that residents may keep dogs, but not cats, is having to defend his case in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria). A Pretoria News report notes there is discontent among the residents of Ireland Gardens in Centurion, who feel that cats pose a nuisance as they cannot be contained.

They sleep on the beds of neighbours and urinate inside the units.

Cat lover Izaak van Niekerk, owner of one of the units, apparently secretly got himself another cat after his two cats had died.

The cat was spotted by one of the residents running into his garden and he was reported. Van Niekerk asked the body corporate to amend its rules regarding cats, but it refused.

He then took the matter up with the adjudicator of community schemes, who acted as an ombud to resolve the dispute, and ruled in his favour.

But Ireland Gardens Body Corporate turned to the court to have this ruling overturned.

Pieter de beer Venter, a member of the body corporate and resident, said in court papers that in 2007 the trustees tried to find a solution and resolved that cats may not roam the complex and that owners had to ensure that the cats stayed inside their own gardens.

But the cat problem persisted and the residents kept on complaining.

Fed-up with the situation, they resolved in 2009 that cats were no longer welcome. The court has ordered that the record of those proceedings should be placed before it.

Full Pretoria News report