| JPC files suit to get properties back - 2010/07/21 | |
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News Article: 5870 has been read 169 times. |
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| The Johannesburg Property Company (JPC) has filed a civil suit for the reinstatement of ownership of 33 of its properties that it believes were fraudulently transferred to private companies. The civil court application was launched after the Deeds Office in Pretoria transferred ownership of the properties to a number of private companies. Brian Mahlangu, the public relations and media officer at the JPC, explains that the matter was taken to court to ensure the re-transfer of the properties back to the council and for the court to make a ruling on their ownership. "Urgent interdicts were granted in favour of the City of Joburg (JPC) to prevent the transfer of 33 properties to any other entity or party." These properties include buildings, land zoned for parks and recreation, vacant land, as well as other City-owned property. Some of them are in Region B, which ranges from Randburg to Rosebank; Region C, which is Roodepoort and surrounding areas; and Region E, which includes Bryanston and Sandton. "The other party or parties have to prove how they have acquired the land," Mahlangu says. They have until 20 July to provide this proof. "Council-owned land can only be sold if the council in a meeting open to the public resolves that a property is not needed for basic municipal services, and that the property must be sold at fair market value as determined by an independent valuer (in terms of Section 14 of the Municipal Finance Management Act)." The transfers All the property transfers followed the same route and were allegedly transferred to Eildoug Investments and thereafter to Zamien Investments 45, which had links to Zunaid Moti, the chairman of unlisted luxury property group Abalengani. In one instance, a Bryanston property was transferred to Koedoesdraai Investments. However, the directors of Zamien Investments and Koedoesdraai Investments claim they were not aware of how the properties were transferred to Eildoug Investments. Salim Bobat, one of the directors of Zamien Investments, says the company bought property in May from Eildoug Investments but was not aware it was previously owned by the Joburg municipality. Tenders Ashton Bodrick, the JPC's executive manager for stakeholder management and support, says the policy and procedures followed by the entity to dispose of any properties would first be approved by the City of Johannesburg and are in line with applicable legislation. He says parks and public spaces of "this magnitude" would not be put out on public tender without asking for comment from the public. "Under these circumstances, these properties were not put out on tender and, even if they were, it is highly unlikely they would be awarded to a single tenderer," Bodrick says. The transfers in question were all facilitated by Edmund Sibisi, the acting deputy registrar at the Deeds Office. Two reports have already been submitted to Sam Lefafa, the chief registrar of deeds, as part of an ongoing investigation into the transactions. The JPC was established as an independent company in 2000 as part of the City's iGoli 2002 re-engineering process and the iGoli 2010 framework. On 27 July, the JPC will be turning 10 years old, with achievements that include Best Corporatised Joburg Entity in 2005. Since then it has also received unqualified annual audit reports. Romaana Naidoo |
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| Source: Property24 | Date: 2010/07/21 |
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