SAME PLOT SOLD TO TWO BUYERS?
Cove Rock development investors want answers
An East London housing development hailed for offering affordable plots to low and medium-income earners has become embroiled in a bitter dispute between a group of investors and the developers.
Cove Rock New Development (CRND) near the East London Airport was lauded for attempting to provide a workable solution to SA’s land issue, but now some of the hundreds of people who bought plots on the property demand to see the financial statements and say they fear that the project may not take off.
But the company responsible for the development has hit back, saying those complaining represent just a fraction of the investors and want to take over the project.
The development came to prominence in 2017 when a group of landless people who initially grabbed vacant land near the airport took a decision not to proceed and instead acquire the property through legal means.
They traced the owner of the identified land and began negotiations to collectively buy the 17.8ha farm for R8m. The land, when rezoned, would accommodate 200 625m² plots.
But now the four men behind the project — Themba Boqwana, Buntu Nonkelela, Sande Dotyeni and Thando Wontoti — are under fire from those who have bought plots on the land.
About 100 investors are represented by a group called Aggrieved Cove Rock New Development farm 938.
They say in the past three years there has been no formal meeting to discuss progress on the development, nor have investors been furnished with financial statements on where the money is.
Furthermore, the Dispatch has been shown documentation suggesting the same plots are being sold to different people.
The aggrieved group’s interim chair, Banele Mpongwana, said Boqwana, Nonkelela, Dotyeni and Wontoti were known to investors as “conveners”, yet now presented themselves as developers.
“The four refuse to account to the community how much of the money deposited into the project account has been used,” Mpongwana told the Dispatch this week.
“They continue to take unilateral decisions without consulting the group members. We know them as conveners but they are known as developers. That is worrying because they are not developers.”
Mpongwana says during phase 1 and 2, 202 people bought plots. He said in phase 3 there were 424 plots that had been bought by investors.
But the Cove Rock New Development developers say while there are 424 plots available in phase 3, none had been sold.
Mpongwana alleged the size of the plots had been changed without any proper consultation or explanation.
“These people [investors] were promised plots of 625m² but now the plots are at 400m².”
He said the initial agreement was that every investor could buy a plot for R40,000, but now plots were being sold at different prices.
“These four individuals have also changed law firms without any explanation or authorisation. We want answers. Is the money still in the bank and how much are they paying to these lawyers?
“Don’t they think it is fair for us to know that? We are investors here. This is our hardearned money.”
What shocked him most, he said, was learning that the plot he bought was also in the name of another investor.
“There’s someone who is claiming that plot 202 is his. Also, as I showed you, plot 188 is sold to two different people ... this is what also concerns us. How many other people have the same problem?”
Mpongwana showed the Dispatch proof of payment from individuals who paid R46,000 and R65,000 respectively.
“It was unanimously agreed that the money for the plots is R40 000, not these increases. Where is the money now? People are panicking.
“We were shown 424 plots for the project, and each was supposed to be sold for R40,000. Yet 224 plots [in phase 3] were sold for R65,000, which totals R15,8m. Where is this money?”
Mpongwana said investors understood that the land had now been registered under a private company called Kaziware (Pty) Ltd, but again this was done without consultation.
A company search shows Boqwana is the sole director of Kaziware.
“What triggered the uproar in the group is a letter they received from Johannesburgbased law firm Elogran Naicker Attorneys, acting on behalf of Kaziware. This imposed sectional title ownership against the will of the group,” Mpongwana alleged.
He said many investors had spent their life savings to buy the land, while others had to endure the financial strain of paying interest on the loans they took to buy the plots.
Mandisa Malenge, a concerned investor, said if anything happened to Kaziware’s sole director, his children could claim the land or the Cove Rock development as theirs.
“We won’t have any leg to stand on. This is the inheritance of an individual or his children and we want to put this on hold,” she said.
On August 8, Aggrieved Cove Rock New Development farm 938 took a decision to form an interim committee to meet with the conveners. The letter to the conveners, seen by the Dispatch, expressed the group’s concerns and demanded the conveners address these.
But the next day, in a letter signed by Boqwana, Nonkelela and Dotyeni, the conveners, responded to say that they did not know who had elected the committee that complained.
“You mention that you were elected. It is important that we know who elected you. We require the names of the person who had voting rights in your meeting.
“It would be improper to accept the vote of non-participants in the project,” they replied.