Former Mamelodi Sundowns striker Anthony Laffor is drowning in a cesspool of debts.
The former SuperSport United striker is on the brink of losing his house and two vehicles as a result of his failure to service three loans he obtained from FNB and Nedbank.
Anthony Laffor, PSL's 3rd Highest paid footballer in 2019
We reported in 2018 that Laffor was one of South Africa’s highest-earning footballers. With the departures of Siphiwe Tshabalala, Ejike Uzoenyi and Steven Pienaar from the PSL, the Sundowns attacker was one of the league’s top five money-men in 2019 as he was reportedly earning R380,000 per month from MaSandawana. The other two footballers who were earning better than him were were Itumeleng Khune and Teko Modise.
News of the Liberian footie’s financial quagmire surfaced after the two banking groups applied for default judgments against him at the Johannesburg High Court.
In the court papers that we have seen, FNB said it granted Laffor a R935 000 loan on July 9 2018 to purchase a Ford Everest 2.2 TDCI XLT 2018 model.
The former Chippa United striker was expected to pay over R11 500 on the 25th of every month for 69 months, and over R122 000 final instalment on July 25 2024.
FNB said Laffor breached the agreement when he failed to make punctual payments, and consequently he was under R90 000 in arrears when the banking giant took him to court.
“The defendant is in arrears as at 18 August 2021 in an amount of R88 571.48, with the total outstanding balance amounting to R479 221.53,” read the court papers.
The bank said as a result of his tardiness, it cancelled the sale agreement and ordered Laffor to surrender the vehicle on April 1 2022, which he failed to do.
In other court papers that we have also seen, Nedbank said it granted Laffor and his partner Anita Tshabalala a R2-million loan.
The couple used their Edenvale property in Gauteng as surety and had agreed to repay the loan in R22 000 monthly instalments for a period of 240 months.
They also agreed that if they breached the agreement, Nedbank would be entitled to claim the total amount owed to be paid immediately.
Laffor and Tshabalala breached the loan agreement when they defaulted on their monthly instalment. The last instalment they paid was on October 28 2020.
The banking group is now asking the court to declare the property, which is worth R2.4-million, executable and to allow it to auction it off to the highest bidder.
“The current estimated value of the mortgaged property is R2.4-million, made up of a land valuation of R450 000 and improvements valued at R1 950 000,” read the papers.
Nedbank further said it sold to Laffor a 2019 Mazda CX5 2.5L for R488 000. He was expected to pay just under R10 000 every month for 72 months with the final instalment being on September 29 2025, but Laffor failed to keep up with his monthly instalments.
As a result, Laffor was over R35 000 in arrears as of March 2021.
“The first defendant has breached the provisions of the instalment agreement in that no instalments have been paid by the defendant since 31 December 2020,” read the court papers.
Nedbank added that it also gave Laffor R100 000 overdraft facility which he agreed to pay in R3 000 monthly instalments, but he breached the agreement when he failed to repay the overdraft facility. The last payment he remitted was on December 8 2020.
Laffor said he had entered into a payment agreement with the two banking groups, noting that he is surprised that they have taken him to court. He added that he has briefed his legal team which is dealing with the court cases.
“It’s small amount my brother, I can afford to pay them. The problem is that the car you are talking about was involved in an accident when my wife was driving it. I don’t know what happened after that, but I will pay the balance,” said Laffor.
– Sunday World
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