“Councillor Dan Bovu sold the land”
Defeating the ends of justice, bribery and corruption.
It has come to light that the City is now in possession of an affidavit from one of the witnesses who brought land from the former MMC of Housing, councillor Dan Bovu. Bovu is now facing charges of corruption and theft.
It is said that the affidavit confirms that the witnesses were recently paid R43 000, which is more than eight times the amount of R5 000 they originally paid Bovu for the land.
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Bovu was arrested in 2017, and is awaiting trial for the alleged illegal sale of City-owned land to two residents, through the Thembelihle Development Trust.
According to the Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg, Herman Mashaba, upon investigating how Bovu could have possibly been acquitted without the City as the complainant and owner of the land sold being consulted, he discovered that the case had been withdrawn because of material witnesses being unwilling to testify.
“It was a far stretch for the ANC to claim that Bovu had been found not guilty on all charges, when in fact the allegations are yet to be tested by a court of law,” said Mashaba.
He also mentioned that the recent payments made were facilitated through the very same Thembelihle Development Trust, of which Bovu was a founding trustee, by means of a R16 000 bank deposit and R27 000 in cash. The Trust has also committed to additional payments which will see the witnesses receiving R100 000 in total.
“I met with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to raise the City’s grave concern at the manner in which this case has been handled and to seek clarity on the ANC’s statement, which alleged that councillor Bovu had been found not guilty on all charges. The NPA confirmed that councillor Bovu had not been acquitted and that the matter can be placed back on the court roll. The case was merely withdrawn due to the material witnesses stating that they were no longer prepared to testify against councillor Bovu on the day of his trial,” he added.
The NPA has also committed to investigating this matter further, given the latest development of material witnesses being bribed not to testify.
Aside from the original charges of corruption and theft, the City believes that additional charges need to be brought against Bovu and his co-accused. These include defeating the ends of justice, bribery and corruption.
Mashaba concluded by saying, “Should it be found that Bovu directly or through a third party sought to pay off witnesses, it would constitute a violation of his bail conditions. Bovu’s bail conditions stipulate that no witnesses may be directly or indirectly interfered with. In light of this, we believe the State should oppose any future bail application on this matter. For the ANC to celebrate the ‘acquittal’ of Bovu only serves to demonstrate their hollow words when it comes to combating corruption within its ranks.”
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