Tender still in the whizzer

It’s has been a year since the Public Protector’s office revealed that it was investigating the alleged improper sale and redevelopment of a portion of Huddle Park.

To date no report has been released.

Spokesperson of the protector’s office, Kgalalelo Masibi said the investigation had not yet been finalised. Masibi said, “The investigating team is awaiting a report from the South African Council for Property Valuers Profession on the sale of Huddle Park golf complex. The report has not yet been received as the matter has to first go through their disciplinary tribunal.”

In the article, Huddle muddle week ending 17 May 2013, Masibi said the drafting of a provisional report had already commenced.

“It is hoped that the report will be ready by the end of June,” she said. In a follow up article, Tender still in the blender, week ending 30 July, Masibi said the report would be ready by the end of August.

Asked about the delays, Masibi said the Public Protectors investigation would only be completed once outstanding documents had been received from the South African Council for Property Valuers Profession. “An independent valuer was appointed by the council to ascertain if the valuer who evaluated the land at R40 million conducted himself properly in coming to that value,” said Masibi.

She said the city council sold it for R46 million including vat and facilitation fees to Huddle Investments which comprises Investec Property, Standard Bank Properties and Global Capital.

Chad Thomas of IRS forensic investigations said a criminal case was opened against the city council and Johannesburg Property Company for the alleged undervalued sale of the land. “The case was deemed nolle prosequi [will not prosecute] in a seemingly irregular manner and the docket was archived,” he said. ‘I requested that the Organised Crime Division of the Gauteng Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation re-open the case. The case is currently under review. The value of the land is believed to be about R200 million.”

Thomas said the illegal sale of state owned land through flawed tender processes was widespread, but this case was different because of the large quantity of land that was sold at a fraction of the true land value.