MEDIA STATEMENT
Issued by Councillor Lance Weyer, DA BCMM Caucus
31 January 2014
For many months the ANC’s administration has been trying to table a report in council which would see Buffalo City purchasing a piece of invaded land at a price much higher than its fair market value. Documents in the possession of the Democratic Alliance reveal the following information:
- The current owner, Mr Shoba, purchased the property in May 2012 for R130 000, R160 000 below it’s 2009 market value of R290 000 knowing that the property had been invaded by some 200 squatters. The property was registered on October 4, 2012.
- Only two months later Buffalo City officials issued a purchase requisition for an evaluation of the same property as the owner would like to sell the property to Buffalo City in order to avoid evicting the squatters.
- On the 13th of December 2012, the Acting CFO sent the evaluation to the Director of Planning and Economic Development. Worryingly, the date on the evaluation is a day later, 14 December 2012.
- Officials at Buffalo City claim that of the five independent valuers they contacted for an evaluation, only one submitted a quote to appraise the property, but submitted it late.
- The Finance Directorate conducted their own evaluation. The CFO’s valuers assessed the property’s value at a staggering R16,5 million – 127 times the original purchase price only months earlier.
- Documents show that comparable average sales price, based on the 20 most relevant comparable sales in the area, is only R1,8 million, far less than the figure obtained by the municipal property valuers.
The Democratic Alliance Caucus believes that Mr Shoba purchased the property for R130 000, knowing that the property had been invaded by squatters, with the intention of selling it to Buffalo City a few months later at a price much higher than it’s true value. We further believe that officials have colluded with Mr Shoba to inflate the price.
Just as members of the governing party 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 and points to an entrenched culture of corruption in Buffalo City.
The Democratic Alliance will therefore ask in Council for this matter to be referred to a full open, public investigation to be conducted by the Municipal Public Accounts Committee. All those found guilty of corrupt practices need to face the full extent of the law. If the ANC does not adequately investigate this matter and deal appropriately with the culprits, we will take this matter up with the Public Protector and the Hawkes.
