Four Lenasia housing fraudsters convicted
THEY MUST SERVE TIME BEHIND BARS’ Residents give council ultimatum
THE Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court has convicted four fraudsters for the illegal sale of government owned land in Lenasia, south of Johannesburg.
Pensioner and former City of Johannesburg official Muzwamandla Poto and his wife Elizabeth Masenya were found guilty on 13 counts of fraud.
The couple was also charged with trespassing after they built their own house on a governmentowned stand.
They will return to court on December 12 for sentencing.
Gauteng MEC for housing Ntombi Mekgwe welcomed the verdict.
“They have defrauded the people and stolen from the state and the only thing they deserve is to serve time behind bars,” Mekgwe said.
“We don ’ t want any of them to escape going to jail for what they have done.”
Mekgwe thanked those who testified for giving reliable evidence and urged residents to help with information that could lead to the arrest of other people who were involved in the illegal selling of land.
Former City of Joburg official Sifiso Litau was found guilty of three counts of fraud in the same court on October 3 after he had forged official documents and had met his victims outside, around or near the department of housing ’ s buildings in Johannesburg.
His sentencing proceedings will resume on Friday. His bail conditions were extended.
Days before his judgment proceedings, Litau resigned from his post with the city during his disciplinary hearing.
This was after witnesses testified implicating him in the land deals.
Litau was at the forefront of an interdict that stopped the government from demolishing hundreds of the illegally built houses in Lenasia Extension 13.
About 50 houses had already been torn down in September last year.
The demolitions were set to move to Lenasia South, where another few hundred houses were to be flattened.
Surrounding areas, including Ennerdale and Lawley, were also affected by the mass land grab between 2006 and beginning of 2010.
Thousands of plots had been sold for amounts rang- ing from R2 500 to R95 000.
Pastor Mandla Dlamini, a bricklayer from Lawley, was also sentenced to three years imprisonment in the same court earlier this year.
He was found guilty of fraud for illegally selling stands and promising to build houses.
Richard Zikhali, described as a kingpin, has been appearing before the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court. MADIBENG local municipality in Brits, North West, has until Thursday to give reasons for its poor service delivery at Oskraal village.
The ultimatum was made at a meeting on Friday, during which residents of Oskraal demanded from the municipality water, roads, housing and electricity.
The residents had earlier barricaded roads with stones and other objects when local councillor Sipho Masima intervened.
Councillor Masima pleaded with the residents to give him until Thursday to solve their service delivery problems.
Escorted by police officers, Masima promised to bring along “the relevant people who would give feedback on the processes of electricity, water, housing and roads ”.
Resident Thapelo Raganya said the North West local government department and Madibeng local municipality were taking the communities for granted.
“They think we are naïve. They promised us electricity and houses.
“Now they are gone and we are still in the dark,” Raganya said.
Another resident, Sarah Moepeng, said lack of electricity had caused crime in Oskraal to escalate.
“Someone is robbed almost every day here in Oskraal and most of the robberies happen at night. We ’ re not safe,” she said.
Efforts to get a comment from Madibeng local municipality spokeswoman Lebogang Tsogang were unsuccessful.