A MACASSAR family are fearing a koue en nat winter after they were "ingedoen" by a pastor after paying R60 000 for a botched nutec home.
Melitta Adams from Milnerton said she enlisted the work of Pastor John Banda from Step Up Ministries in December 2024 after finding him on Facebook to put up a nutec for her sister and her family.
She explains: “I know of Banda through church events where he or his wife ministered but we were not friends.
"When I was doing research for the nutec I came across his Facebook post where he said he is doing nutecs with Pastor Elbre Jacobs. I replied to the post and we had a long conversation about the quotes and what it entails.
"He sent me beautiful pictures and said that is his work. I believed that he is a man of God with integrity so I trusted him. We agreed on the R60 000 quote and he started building. To clean the yard he quoted me R1 500.”
Melitta said they started building the 3x9m nutec in the week of the 20th December and she was told to pay R40 000 upfront to buy material and R20 000 must be paid upon completion.
She adds: “Every other day he was asking money for something. Upon completion of the structure there was a balance of about R8 000, which I paid.
"When I saw the nutec, it was not what we agreed on. The materials are all second-hand, there is nothing new. The board was cut skew, nothing was cut even. The ceiling was hanging in, there are no support in the walls, we could not even install the TV. The floor goes down when you walk. They took the same board they used for the ceiling in the room as walls in the shower.
"We are currently paying off a loan for this nutec but there was no quality or proper work. When I reached out to Elbre, he said he was not aware of anything and the pictures John showed me were his pictures."
When Daily Voice reached out to John Banda, he blamed the workers and said those were not his original builders.
Banda explains: “Everything in the nutec is brand new. The ceiling still needs to be fixed and plaster but when I receive my geldjies by next Friday God willing the place will be ready.”
Pastor Elbre Jacobs said he will be the mediator to have the place fixed, adding: "I will be physically involved now and help John because he does not have much experience. Melitta won’t pay any money, just the work was not done right but by next week Friday the place will be fixed."