A top Cape Town realtor is embroiled in an ugly battle with a security guard who works at the palatial apartment block in Clifton where she lives.
Patrick Nyangiwe, 60, who is also a part-time manager at Eventide at Clifton — where apartments can sell for more than R100m — claims realtor Denise Dogon told him he “smells like sewage” and, on another occasion, said he was “like a monkey jumping up and down”.
He claims Dogon is a racist who harasses him at every opportunity.
I have never been a racist. I spend a lot of my time reading to kids in townships. My houseman's children come to my apartment every day to do their homework
— Denise Dogon
But Dogon has denied making the comments, saying she believes he is being used as “a puppet” in a legal battle between her and some of the trustees of the building, after she uncovered “financial shenanigans”.
“The claims against me are baseless. I have never been a racist. I work with foundations working with underprivileged black people and spend a lot of my time reading to kids in townships. My houseman's children come to my apartment every day to do their homework. This shows I am not a racist,” Dogon told the Sunday Times.
“I am in legal battles with some of the trustees and they are using Patrick as a weapon against me. He was even given an Audi by one of the trustees as payment for co-operating with them.”
Since November 2023, at least seven court matters have been filed against Dogon by various trustees and residents. They include claims of harassment, defamation and crimen injuria. Some have been withdrawn, others dismissed and others are ongoing.
On Friday, the trustees were served with an application by Dogon seeking, among other things, access to financial records.
Dogon claims the various court cases against her are the result of her asking "difficult" questions about the financials of Eventide.
"It is now more than a year after I started asking for financial records and they still haven't complied. They only sent partial records," Dogon told the Sunday Times.
The Cape Town magistrate’s court granted Nyangiwe an interim protection order against Dogon in October. But in November the regional court declined to make it a permanent order, saying the claims did not fall under the ambit of the Protection from Harassment Act.
Bruce Hendricks, Nyangiwe’s lawyer, told the Sunday Times they would take the decision on review. “If that does not work we will go to the equality court. This current decision, that calling my client a monkey and saying he smells like sewage is not illegal, cannot stand,” Hendricks said.
In his motivation regarding the urgency of the order, Nyangiwe wrote: “She is a racist, she is rude. She thinks that Mandela went to Robben Island to free baboons. I am not a slave. I have human rights. I am an adult. I have family.”
Eventide is home to some high-profile business people, including Irish businessman, television personality and former motorsport team owner Eddie Jordan; Aspen founder and CEO Stephen Saad; and movie producer Anant Singh.
“There are 31 units in the block and only between three and five of them have permanent residents,” said a former employee.
In January 2021, a two-level apartment was on the market for R170m — said at the time to be the most expensive listing in South Africa.
Nyangiwe, who has worked at the block for 18 years, starting off as a cleaner, said he had approached Camps Bay police on at least seven occasions to open cases but was turned down every time.
“The police refused to help me, they just said Mrs Dogon knows people,” Nyangiwe said. “She is abusive towards me and harasses me at every opportunity. The police never helped me. Officers just told me that Mrs Dogon has contacts high up.
“She said I smelt like sewage and on another occasion she said I was like a monkey jumping up and down.”
In her statement filed in court, Dogon denied this. “This statement to my driver Thompson — 'Poo! There's a bad smelling sewage here in reception, do you feel it Tommy?' was made in response to an actual sewage problem in the area which required the City of Cape Town to send workers out to rectify the situation.
“This comment was not directed at, nor did it have anything to do with, the applicant. The fact that he included it in his application clearly illustrates his frivolousness and vindictiveness. It demonstrates that he is willing to lie and twist the truth to further his agenda,” Dogon wrote in her statement.
Several people at the building said Dogon was a “serial complainer”.
“She even in the past accused the trustees of interfering with her DStv signal and cutting the fibre line to her apartment,” one said.
Dogon, in her court statement, complained about video and audio monitoring taking place in Eventide “without any signage warning people they were being recorded”.
Approached for comment, the Eventide trustees released a statement.
“We collectively disavow any form of racism or ill-treatment of any individual whatsoever. We confirm that all financial records have been provided to all owners collectively. The trustees conducted a full forensic audit which confirmed that there were no funds missing.
“The allegations made against the trustees regarding stolen or missing money and irregularities in respect of the financials are false and defamatory.”
They denied giving an Audi to Nyangiwe, interfering with Dogon's TV signal or cutting her fibre line.
“One of the owners has made a car available to be used by Patrick, as the building manager, as well as the other guards if and when necessary and required.”
Regarding Nyangiwe's complaint about police refusing to open a case, Western Cape police spokesperson Sgt Wesley Twigg referred him to the management of the Camps Bay police station.
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