I'm very new at this and really need some help.
I'm not sure if I'm in the right category, if Not please point me in the right direction..

We made the very huge mistake of renting our house to people we thought we could trust. This was a two year contract and about 16 months in we kicked them out..
The contract was structured in such a manner that it was basically a handy man contract.
They fix the house while renting it but get R1000 of the rent that they should use for repairs.
So we're paying them to R1000 a month to do repairs that was stipulated in the contract.
Now that they moved out the horror of what they did or actually didn't do is reveled.
We moved to another state so couldn't check up and as I said we made the huge mistake of trusting them as they where family But it was stated very clear that this was a business contract from the beginning.
Now that we assessed the whole situation we can see just how bad we got kicked to the ground.
As it stands the electricity bill is R10317.16 they owe 4 months back rent that's R16200. There is the R16000 that we paid for repairs that was not done at all some project was started - like wall being knocked out only half way , the roof painted not even half way . About a year it they informed us that the geyser needed to be replaced and we forked out R3500 for a new geyser THAT WAS NEVER REPLACED OR BOUGHT but the money was taken of the rent. We where lucky to have gotten them out of the house without a eviction notice but they have since fled and seized all communication. We do know their whereabouts and their son has tried to defend their actions. We are in the process of filling a fraud and theft case against both husband and wife but feel that taking them to the small claims court would be a waste of our time because the amount we want to claim back is way more than R15000 it's not just the R46017.16 They fled the state and have not fulfilled their contractual obligations.
We are not in the process to sell the house at a great loss because we are not in a financial state to fix it..
I know that the civil case will take long but these people ruined us financially and emotionally and need to get what they deserve..
If I could hire a lawyer to assist I would but as I said are not in a financial position to do so.
Is there anyone that can give me some kind of idea as how to proceed.