This is related to the case of one of many hijacked buildings in the city.
In this case, it is about Cape York, 252 at the corner of Jeppe and Nugget streets, in Johannesburg CBD.
When he contacted the paper, Koji stated that the living conditions were unbearable.
He said when he walked into the building he saw the inhumane living conditions. “There was no electricity, few toilets to be shared amongst all the residents, people were sleeping in passages on the floor, rodents and cockroaches roamed amidst people, all this was coupled with an unbearable smell,” Koji said.
He claimed that JPC had hired VMQ Property Services to clean the building, with 10 employees working three days a week.
Koji said he had spoken to VMQ manager, Vatiswa Mjiba, who told him the building is owned by the Bank of Mozambique and the custodian is the Department of Economic Development.
Koji said, “[Majiba] as been the facility’s manager for five months now… reporting to Johannesburg Property Company. She said that the City set aside a budget in appointing her company to help get the building in a more liveable state. She said that the City’s reason for this was because the building falls within their jurisdiction.”
Koji stated that the City and the company had refused to divulge the duration and exact amount of the contract. He claimed that there was no tender process prior to the awarding of the contract.
Four weeks ago this journalist contacted the City and VMQ posing questions as to the value and duration of the contract.
He questioned whether the tender process had been followed and asked for the proof. He also asked about the mandate of the contract and whether the company was performing according to the agreement?
This journalist also asked for a response to the allegations that there was corruption in terms of awarding the contract to VMQ, and he also queried the need for secrecy as to how much the city is paying to the VMQ.
However in one of her responses, Mjiba said, “We do not have the authority to respond to you directly, however, I have forwarded your queries to our client and Betsy Malope [project manager at City of Joburg Property Company] copied on the same email will be able to respond to you.”
But nothing came out of that.
Contacted again, she said, “Did you not receive the feedback via JPC stakeholder relations unit?”
Meanwhile, Bliss Yeni from the office of the JPC’s chief operations officer only sent photos of what he said was the work done in the building.
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