‘Pay what you owe, Gauteng’: Gauteng govt accused of using mortuary without paying rent

The Gauteng department of infrastructure development has been accused of operating a mortuary without compensating the owner of the building.

The 53-year-old owner of Plaaswerf Beleggings, Hans Kelly, accused the provincial government of using his Heidelberg property without paying rent.

Kelly’s problem started in 2016 when he rented out his commercial property to the Gauteng department of health to be used as a government mortuary.

Business owner rented property to Gauteng health to use as govt mortuary

After the department reportedly failed to pay the R13 500 per month rent in 2020, he obtained an eviction order, had them evicted and locked the building.

“After kicking them out, two months later I received a call from the department of infrastructure development ordering me to allow the operation to continue as the matter was being sorted out. I instructed the security company to give them the keys.

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“They continued using the property without paying rent and last year I took the matter to court, forcing them to pay or buy the property. The matter was postponed after the state lawyers said they needed more time to prepare. Now we are waiting for the court to give us a date for the hearing,” said Kelly.

“I don’t have a problem allowing them to operate there, but all I need is my money because since they started operating there, I have not received a cent.

“Remember I was using this property as a mortuary and they just came and occupied it without making any payment.

‘We received absolutely nothing’

“Our rental income and assets are gone, without a cent in return. The property has already passed to the state. We received absolutely nothing.”

Kelly said the department owed him approximately R12 million for the property, including rental arrears.

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He said he was ready to sell the property to the government, whereby he could charge them R5 million.

The businessman who also owns a private school in Lydenburg, Mpumalanga said his life was in limbo as he was unable to fund his other businesses because he did not have the money.

“For example, I have a licence to build a private hospital but I don’t have money to buy the land while the government does not want to pay me. “

Waiting to new court date

His lawyer, Rouvaun Heyns, has confirmed that he was waiting for the next court date in which he would be compelling the government to make payment.

“The principles of fair administrative justice require that persons or entities must first be informed about the possible actions that violate their rights and must have a chance to provide input. In this case, submissions could only be made after the time.

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“The cut-off date for receiving submissions was after the date on which property rights had already passed to the state. The last two judgments preceded the expropriation notice which the client feels was the root cause of the expropriation notice as a punishment,” Heyns said.

Heyns said he was waiting for an opposed motion date to have the application heard, when his client would be attempting to claim, among others, arrear rentals due to him.

Theo Nkonki, spokesperson for Jacob Mamabolo, MEC for infrastructure development and cooperative governance and traditional affairs, said: “The department is aware of the case involving the immovable property situated at Erf 1236, Heidelberg Extension 5, 55 Schoeman Street.

Department aware of case

“The property is used by the Gauteng department of health as a state mortuary inclusive of the medico-legal laboratory and other facilities for forensic pathology services.

“The matter was urgent as the department of health had been evicted on 13 July, 2020 and the negotiations between the parties had reached a stalemate.

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“The property was expropriated and the matter regarding compensation and outstanding rental is pending before the high court.”

A deeds office search shows that the property is still registered in the name of the original owner, Plaaswerf Beleggings (Pty) Ltd, which bought it for R8.5 million in 1984.