City of Joburg launches investigation into sale of Sandton Gautrain land
The City of Johannesburg has kicked off a full forensic investigation into an apparent dodgy sale of the land where the Sandton Gautrain Station is situated.
In a statement released on Thursday, executive mayor, Herman Mashaba, said damning information came to light during a billing issue with the property, currently before the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg.
The issue stems from a 2009 agreement between Joburg Property Group, on behalf of the City, and Cedar Park.
Joburg Property Group sold the land to Cedar Park for R280-million, "however, the transfer of this land was only registered in the Deeds Office in 2013," the statement said.
The City issued a bond in favour of Cedar Park for the full R280-million.
"One must ask, why would the City ever finance the sale of its own land to a private company?
"This is not only absurd but highly suspect," Mashaba said.
"To add to this, Cedar Park has not made one payment in terms of the bond repayments because of a suspensive clause included in the development lease agreement," he added.
Mashaba said the conduct was suspicious.
"Absurdly, instead of assisting the City in ensuring that this debt is paid, the Gauteng Provincial Government and the Bombela Concession Company is also taking the City to court on 1 October 2019 seeking the exact same relief. Such action is wasting public money in unnecessary, duplication litigation.
"I will not rest until the City gets to the bottom of this apparent criminality and ensure that those who have elected to abuse public office and steal from our residents face the full might of the law," Mashaba said.
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
Booyco Electronics, South African pioneer of Proximity Detection Systems, offers safety solutions for underground and surface mining, quarrying,...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Multotec, recognised industry leaders in metallurgy and process engineering help mining houses across the world process minerals more efficiently,...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
