Absolute Cruelty and ******** Practices at Barlow Park

I would never, as long as I live, recommend Ithemba Property Management or Barlow Park to anyone. What I have experienced at their hands is the absolute height of cruelty, humiliation, and nonchalance. They are calculated in how they destroy people. When a tenant faces a temporary hardship, Ithemba demands an "administration fee" just to process a payment arrangement. How do you force a person who is struggling to pay a fee and 50% of the rent upfront when they've already explained they don't have the funds right now? I communicated clearly and in good faith that my payment would be made on a specific date within the very same month. I acknowledged the debt and never once refused to pay. Instead of treating a human being with a shred of dignity, they issued a 20-day letter of demand—and while that statutory 20-day period was still active, they took the law into their own hands. First, they cut off my electricity. Then, they waited for me to step out of my apartment and ********ly locked me out of my unit. It is past 23:20 at night on a Friday. Ever since I came back from work after 16:00, I have been left stranded, loitering around the building, sitting on cold concrete stairs just to rest my aching feet. I am hungry, physically exhausted, and left with nowhere to sleep or even use a restroom, simply because they decided to *******ly lock me out as a self-help tactic. Even when the police arrived and informed management that locking a tenant out without a court order is *******, they refused to open. To Siphiwe and the management team: I hope life continues to be so kind to you that you never find yourself stranded, locked out, and stripped of basic dignity like this. When you are speaking or assisting from a place of privilege, kulula ukuziphakamisa. It must be nice that you are sleeping in warm beds tonight and had warm supper whilst I am spending the night sitting at the cold stairs, stressed, on my period, hungry and tired. You operate without a shred of empathy or basic humanity. This is a cold, calculated, and ******** establishment. As long as I live, I will never forget the cruelty I was subjected to tonight. The 12 months will be too long and I regret this lease. I honestly thought I'm moving in at a place that cares about the wellbeing of it's tenants. I was wrong.