Nedbank has lost the first round in a R2m David versus Goliath case, where the bank is accused of racism when dealing with black mortgage-bond holders.

According to a report on the IoL site, Thina Bambeni is suing Nedbank for R2m for loss of earnings after she was forced to sell her Kempton Park home in January 2018 to cover a court-ordered payment of roughly R377 000 when the bank sued her for being slightly in arrears.

The court order was made in June 2016.

Bambeni said that she was suing Nedbank because of ‘unscrupulous banks and their attorneys, who dispossess black clients of our properties in an unjust manner’.

Last week, Nedbank went to court to try to get the lawsuit against it dismissed, but the institution's case was rejected and it was ordered to pay Bambeni’s legal costs.

Nedbank, according to papers filed at the Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg), reneged on its policy of allowing Bambeni to affect a payment plan after she was R20 705.88 in arrears on her bond, which she received in September 2015.

Bambeni alleged that the June 2016 ‘unlawful judgment’ denied her an opportunity to join the Bonitas Medical Fund’s board of trustees, to which she was nominated in May 2017 and could have earned more than R2m in fees.

This followed a credit check conducted by Bonitas, which found the June 2016 judgment and disqualified her.

The correspondence thereof forms part of court papers.

The papers also show that Nedbank, according to an e-mail from its legal representatives Hammond and Pole, dated December 2016, had a policy to allow Bambeni to settle her arrears within three to six months to avoid legal action against her.

Full report on the IoL site