The Star Early Edition

Joburg faces huge claim for damages

- ROY COKAYNE

A R1.94 billion civil damages claim has been lodged against the City of Joburg (CoJ) relating to an allegedly irregular, fraudulent and possibly corrupt property transactio­n that involved two former mayors, several high-ranking city officials, two large banks and a property developer.

The CoJ has given notice of its intention to defend the claim.

A criminal charge was laid in April relating to the alleged irregulari­ties and unlawful manner of the disposal of portions of the Huddle Park property, and it was further alleged that perjury, fraud, forgery and uttering were committed during the disposal process.

The criminal case was opened at Hillbrow police station in Joburg and then transferre­d in April to the Directorat­e for Priority Crime Investigat­ion (Hawks).

The essence of the criminal charges is that the CoJ disposed of an asset of the state in an allegedly irregular, unlawful and fraudulent manner to a non-compliant tenderer, which caused prejudice to both the city’s ratepayers and other shortliste­d tenderers.

Complaints were lodged with several entities, including the Special Investigat­ing Unit and the Johannesbu­rg Commercial Crime Unit, and a review applicatio­n was lodged with the CoJ, which was subsequent­ly withdrawn.

Two processes were undertaken for the disposal of portions of the Huddle Park property.

The first, initiated in September 2004, was terminated in 2009.

A bank-led consortium was the only entity to respond during the second process, which resulted in it acquiring 52.7 hectares of the Huddle Park site for R46 million in June 2011.

A so-called independen­t valuation obtained by the Johannesbu­rg Property Company (JPC) for the 52.7ha of Huddle Park was R40.052 million.

An investigat­ion by Business Report revealed this valuation was done by Thapelo Mmusinyane, an internal candidate valuer at the JPC, and “checked and certified” by George Ramovha, a registered profession­al valuer. Their valuation compared the site to a property adjacent to the Diepsloot squatter camp.

A complaint was lodged against Mmusinyane and Ramovha at the SA Council for the Property Valuers Profession (SACVPV) in November 2012. Both were found guilty at an SACVPV disciplina­ry hearing last November of improper conduct.

Allegation­s of fraud in property transactio­n

A R1.94 BILLION civil damages claim has been lodged against the City of Johannesbu­rg (CoJ) related to an allegedly irregular, fraudulent and possibly corrupt property transactio­n that involved two former mayors, several high-ranking city officials, two banks and a black-owned property group.

The CoJ has given notice of its intention to defend the claim.

A criminal charge was also laid in April this year related to the alleged irregulari­ties and unlawful manner in the disposal of portions of Huddle Park property when it was further alleged fraud, forgery and uttering, and perjury was committed during the disposal process.

The criminal case opened at the Hillbrow police station in Johannesbu­rg was transferre­d in April this year to the Directorat­e For Priority Crime Investigat­ion (DPCI), commonly known as the Hawks, for investigat­ion.

Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi confirmed last week the alleged tender fraud case was under investigat­ion at the Serious Economic Offences Unit of the DPCI, but was still at its initial stage of investigat­ion.

The essence of the criminal charges is that the CoJ disposed of an asset of the state in an allegedly irregular, unlawful and fraudulent manner to a non compliant tenderer, which caused prejudice to both the city’s ratepayers and other short listed tenderers.

Complaints were lodged previously by Kirk with several entities, including the special investigat­ion unit (SIU) and Johannesbu­rg commercial crime, and a review applicatio­n lodged with the CoJ, which was withdrawn when the CoJ demanded R100 000 security from Kirk.

A complaint was also lodged with the Public Protector in November 2011, but to date it has not issued any report on the investigat­ion of the complaint.

Oupa Segalwe, the senior manager communicat­ions at the Public Protector, said this week the investigat­ion of the complaint was “pending” and was unable to provide any indication of when it was likely to be completed. He said its finalisati­on had taken so long “due to capacity constraint­s as the office has a backlog” of complaints.

The civil damages claim and criminal charges were laid by Bill Kirk, whose company Associated Golf Developmen­ts submitted a bid for and on behalf of the Asibambane Consortium for the Huddle Park property redevelopm­ent.

In terms of an affidavit Kirk submitted in support of the criminal charges that were laid, the complainan­t named 23 people or companies who, according to him, were involved in the allegedly irregular and unlawful award of the tender for disposal and redevelopm­ent of 183 hectares of prime land in Huddle Park.

Business Report has a copy of the affidavit, but has been advised on legal grounds not to disclose the identify of the implicated people and companies at this stage. The alleged irregulari­ties and criminal offences relate to two disposals for the sale and redevelopm­ent of a portion of Huddle Park that have been investigat­ed by Business Report over the past five years.

The first tender was terminated. An Investec-led consortium was the only bidder during the second disposal process, which resulted in it acquiring the Huddle Park site for R46 million, including VAT, in June 2011.

The Asibambane consortium, one of the short-listed bidders, disbanded after it lost the tender. Asibambane members ceded and assigned all their rights and claims they had in the matter to Kirk.

It is alleged the price paid by an Investec-led consortium was significan­tly less than the market valuation for the property.

Estimate

Brian Mahlangu, the then spokespers­on for the Johannesbu­rg Property Company (JPC), told Business Report in 2012 the price paid by an Investec-led consortium was in line with “the independen­t valuators estimate”.

Subsequent Business Report investigat­ions revealed the valuation was conducted by Thapelo Mmusinyane, an internal candidate valuer at the JPC, and “checked and certified” by profession­al registered valuer George Ramovha.

However, an adjacent site to the Diepsloot squatter camp was used for comparativ­e purposes to determine the value of the Huddle Park site.

This resulted in Kirk lodging a complaint with the SA Council for the Property Valuers Profession (SACPVP) against Mmusinyane and Ramovha in November 2012.

Both of them were found guilty during a SACPVP disciplina­ry hearing in November last year of improper conduct. Mmusinyane in December received a caution while Ramovha was fined R5 000, with the entire fine suspended for five years. roy.cokayne@inl.co.za See Page 19

 ?? Photo: Itumeleng English ?? Sales office for The Neighbourh­ood, an Investec mixed use property developmen­t at the Huddle Park golf course in Linksfield, Johannesbu­rg. The City of Johannesbu­rg says a claim of R1.9bn from Bill Kirk is without merit.
Photo: Itumeleng English Sales office for The Neighbourh­ood, an Investec mixed use property developmen­t at the Huddle Park golf course in Linksfield, Johannesbu­rg. The City of Johannesbu­rg says a claim of R1.9bn from Bill Kirk is without merit.
 ??  ?? Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi confirmed last week the alleged tender fraud case was under investigat­ion.
Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi confirmed last week the alleged tender fraud case was under investigat­ion.

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