COUNCIL ACCEPTS DA PROPOSAL FOR INVESTIGATION INTO R16 MILLION FARM SALE PLOY
The DA welcomes the approval by the Buffalo City Council of a proposal I made on behalf of my party to investigate possible wrongdoing by staff alleged to be part of a ploy to defraud the municipality out of R16,5 million.
This potential fraud was exposed after the DA conducted an investigation into a report tabled by the ANC-administration in council which would have seen Buffalo City Metro purchasing the piece of invaded land at the grossly inflated price in order to prevent the squatters from being evicted and turn the land into an informal settlement.
The DA's investigation showed that the current owner, Mr. Moshe Shohaba, purchased the property in May 2012 for R130 000, well below its 2009 market value of R290 000, knowing that the property had been invaded by some 200 squatters. Shortly after the property was transferred into his name, employees of Buffalo City Metro, within the Valuation Department of the Finance Directorate, valued the property for R16,500,00.
Due to my protests in the Buffalo City Council that the value of the property could not possibly increase by such a large amount in such a short time, a valuation by a registered independent valuer was conducted.
The independent professional valuer has assessed the property's value at only R325,000.00 - more than R16 million rand less than BCM valued the land for and proving that the DA was correct in saying that the land was grossly over-valued.
The DA firmly believes that BCM officials have colluded with Mr Shohaba to inflate the price.
The DA will be reporting these inflated valuations by the BCM's valuation department and Mr Shohaba's valuer to the SA Council for the Property Valuers Profession.
We will continue to pursue this matter to ensure that internal disciplinary action is taken against BCM staff if found guilty of wrongdoing.
Just as members of Jacob Zuma's ANC have allegedly used the death of Nelson Mandela to loot the coffers of Buffalo City Metro of millions of rands for their own gain, this is another attempt at corruption where the plight of impoverished people is being used as a tool to loot even more money from the city. It points to an entrenched culture of corruption in Buffalo City.
Statement issued by Cllr Lance Weyer, DA Buffalo City Caucus,, February 28 2014
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