Port Shepstone Police Vehicle Inspection Unit faces eviction as unpaid rent mounts
Rent had reportedly not been paid since March last year, and the department had also apparently ignored repeated requests from the landlord to settle the bill.
Yet another rental bungle by the Department of Public Works will possibly leave the Port Shepstone Saps Vehicle Inspection and Safeguarding Unit without premises.
The facility, which has some 1 056 parking bays, was custom-built for the South African Police after the landlord, Sean Naidoo of Silver Moon Investments 145CC was awarded the tender.
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The state-of-the-art building was officially opened in January 2007.
The premises have on numerous occasions been chained and locked by the landlord after the provincial Department of Public Works (DPW) failed to pay the rent.
Rent had reportedly not been paid since March last year, and the department had also apparently ignored repeated requests from the landlord to settle the bill.
Now, come tomorrow (Friday), Mr Naidoo will be seeking an eviction order in the Durban High Court.
The eviction application comes after the Department of Public Works spokesman Thami Mchunu said in a statement in January this year that a case of fraud against Mr Naidoo would be heard in court in April.
Mr Naidoo said no such case had come before the court, adding that he had referred the matter to his legal team in order for them to “assess the intentional, malicious and defamatory statement by Mr Mchunu and the Department of Public Works”.
Expert report
There is also a dispute between the department and Mr Naidoo regarding a report by an independent expert, employed by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to calculate the extent of the leased property, the parking and office areas.
This was to be done using the South African Property Owners’ Association (SAPOA) method of measurement, the body which represents and is the official voice of the commercial and industrial property industry in South Africa.
The independent expert’s report states, “Different supplementary areas may contract discreet rental, and shall therefore not be independently listed.”
However, the expert is believed to have misinterpreted the relevant clause as the SAPOA document in reality states, “Different supplementary areas may attract discreet rentals, and shall therefore be independently listed.”
“Silver Moon Investments 145cc has been severely prejudiced by this report. Saps has remained in occupation of the property and public works has not paid rent since March 1 2017, based on that misleading report,” said Mr Naidoo.
He had since opened a case of fraud against the SIU chief forensic investigator and the SIU expert.
He said that the NPA had declined to prosecute, amidst suspicion of a cover-up, and he had applied for a certificate of non prosecution in order to privately prosecute these individuals.
According to Mr Naidoo, he and his company are under investigation by the Hawks, based on the SIU expert’s report.
“I have provided the Hawks with the SIU and its expert’s miscalculations. The Hawks are engaging their own expert to survey and measure the leased premises,” he said.
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“The department has been paying rental for parking of 29 578m² as per their Property Management Information System (PMIS) records, but is also in possession of the SIU report and is thus aware that the SIU expert has found parking of 31 283m² on the leased property.”
Lease or no lease
Mr Naidoo added the department claimed there was a lease agreement in place, but he denied this, producing evidence of a month-to-month tenancy agreement between Silver Moon Investments and the DPW.
“The issue is not with the police, but with DPW, The regional manager and staff at the Durban regional office have failed to correct their documentation which has led to the Saps being in occupation without a valid lease agreement.”
Precedent
A repetition of the situation in Newcastle which saw 200 policemen evicted from their offices in 2013 due to blunders by the DPW seems inevitable.
Despite receiving an email from the Herald asking for comment, no response was forthcoming from the Department of Public Works at the time of going to press.
However, Nazreen Pandor, Head of Communications and Stakeholder Management of the Special Investigating Unit in Pretoria said they would respond on or before close of business on Friday, June 15.
Spokesman for the Port Shepstone Saps, Lieutenant-Colonel Zandra Wiid said they would only comment once the eviction order had been granted.
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