BORDER WAR

Two Pretoria neighbours have fought a bitter court battle over the erection of a fence along a driveway

- CYRIL BLACKBURN

THE trees rustle in the breeze and turtle doves’ cooing is all that disturbs the silence in the upmarket Pretoria neighbourhood.

A busy highway passes a few hundred metres away but from the driveway of this property in Lynnwood it’s just a distant hum.

It’s always been pleasant to live here, says Cynthia Jammine as she leads us to her front door.

The peace, however, was disrupted by a feud between Cynthia and Riana Steenkamp, her neighbour of eight years.

The problem? A driveway and a palisade fence – among other things. The drama, which had the local community buzzing, first landed in the magistrate’s court and then the high court.

Cynthia (68), who describes herself as a “peaceful, quiet, energetic woman”, has lived here in her double-storey facebrick house for nearly 20 years.

She and Riana (67) share a panhandle property and the trouble began when Riana took Cynthia to court to compel her to remove the palisade fence she’d erected.

The fence, Riana argued, prevented her from making a U-turn in her car and meant she had to reverse down the long driveway to the main gate.

She’d been using Cynthia’s side of the driveway “peacefully and undisturbed” to make U-turns for eight years, Riana stated in court papers.

Cynthia wasn’t having any of it. The fence was on her side of the driveway and it was her right to have it there.

“Let me tell you something,” Cynthia says, standing next to the offending barrier. “This thing is about more than just a fence and a driveway.

“Riana’s been attacking me with petty drama since the day she moved in.”