Aug 24, 2026 · 32 min · 12 segments
When the Kesa family started a building project at their homestead in the Eastern Cape in 2018, they had no idea that it would devolve into a deadly family feud. By the time both the proverbial and…
Nicole EngelbrechtHostMkondisi and Thubekazi Keza married in their early 20s and welcomed three children into the world, their oldest son, Ntembeko, then their second son, Tobeni, and finally their youngest child, a daughter called Nobubela.
The family lived on their homestead in Theunbank in Stacksspruit in the Eastern Cape from when the children were young.
Mkondisi and Thubekazi worked hard to provide for their family and to ensure that they would always have a roof over their heads.
The family was far from wealthy, but certainly worked and saved enough to live a relatively middle-class life.
Tobeni would have three children with three different women, but by his own accounts, he had never had a relationship with any of those children, nor had he contributed to their upkeep financially.
In 2014, Nobubela gave birth to her first child, a daughter she named Hillary, and the child would remain living with her mother, uncles, and grandparents at the family homestead too.
They had a decent-sized piece of land, but the home itself was relatively small for the five of them.
And then as their grandchild joined the household, it became clear that they would have to put plans they'd had for a while to extend the house into action sooner rather than later.
After much discussion, it was decided that because the two Keza sons were unemployed and had a bit of building experience, they would carry out the extension work, and their parents would pay for the materials.
There was never any discussion at this point about payments for the building work because the men were getting the benefits of living in the homestead for free.
They were unemployed, did not contribute financially to the home, and they would eventually inherit the homestead anyway.
An agreement was reached, and Tobeni and Ntembeko's parents gave their sons several thousand rand for materials they would need to build the extension.
Work began on the building, and for the most part, everything seemed to be going to plan.
It was near the beginning of 2018, though, when proverbial cracks began to show.
With some of the building work done, the two Keza brothers had significantly slowed down with their rate of work, and it appeared the materials simply weren't arriving at the homestead.
After much back and forth, Mkondisi and Thubekazi discovered that their sons appeared to have squandered a large portion of the money they'd given them for building materials.
The two men, for their part, began to talk about how the work was hard, and they thought that they should be paid for their work.
The dispute soon became heated, and it appears that Mkondisi felt threatened enough by his sons that in the beginning of July twenty eighteen, he went to a local court to apply for a protection order.
A temporary order was granted, and as a result, the two Keser men had to leave the homestead.
Rather than see their children out on the street, though, despite the dispute between them, Mkondisi and Tubakazi directed their sons to go to a small property they owned about ten kilometers away.
It was a property used by extended family on occasion, and at that time, no one was living in it, so it felt like the perfect solution to the family's current issue.
Despite the separation by distance, the Keser family disputes did not simmer down.
Mkondisi and Thubekazi Keza married in their early 20s and welcomed three children into the world, their oldest son, Ntembeko, then their second son, Tobeni, and finally their youngest child, a daughter called Nobubela.
The family lived on their homestead in Theunbank in Stacksspruit in the Eastern Cape from when the children were young.
Mkondisi and Thubekazi worked hard to provide for their family and to ensure that they would always have a roof over their heads.
The family was far from wealthy, but certainly worked and saved enough to live a relatively middle-class life.
Tobeni would have three children with three different women, but by his own accounts, he had never had a relationship with any of those children, nor had he contributed to their upkeep financially.
In 2014, Nobubela gave birth to her first child, a daughter she named Hillary, and the child would remain living with her mother, uncles, and grandparents at the family homestead too.
They had a decent-sized piece of land, but the home itself was relatively small for the five of them.
And then as their grandchild joined the household, it became clear that they would have to put plans they'd had for a while to extend the house into action sooner rather than later.
After much discussion, it was decided that because the two Keza sons were unemployed and had a bit of building experience, they would carry out the extension work, and their parents would pay for the materials.
There was never any discussion at this point about payments for the building work because the men were getting the benefits of living in the homestead for free.
They were unemployed, did not contribute financially to the home, and they would eventually inherit the homestead anyway.
An agreement was reached, and Tobeni and Ntembeko's parents gave their sons several thousand rand for materials they would need to build the extension.
Work began on the building, and for the most part, everything seemed to be going to plan.
It was near the beginning of 2018, though, when proverbial cracks began to show.
With some of the building work done, the two Keza brothers had significantly slowed down with their rate of work, and it appeared the materials simply weren't arriving at the homestead.
After much back and forth, Mkondisi and Thubekazi discovered that their sons appeared to have squandered a large portion of the money they'd given them for building materials.
The two men, for their part, began to talk about how the work was hard, and they thought that they should be paid for their work.
The dispute soon became heated, and it appears that Mkondisi felt threatened enough by his sons that in the beginning of July twenty eighteen, he went to a local court to apply for a protection order.
A temporary order was granted, and as a result, the two Keser men had to leave the homestead.
Rather than see their children out on the street, though, despite the dispute between them, Mkondisi and Tubakazi directed their sons to go to a small property they owned about ten kilometers away.
It was a property used by extended family on occasion, and at that time, no one was living in it, so it felt like the perfect solution to the family's current issue.
Despite the separation by distance, the Keser family disputes did not simmer down.
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