The chairperson of the Portfolio Committee for Cooperative Governance (Cogta), Aaron Motswana, alleges that the government could have lost a massive R4.9 billion - calculated for the period between 2005 and 2009 - due to the non-collection of revenue from at least 98 000 properties. 

This follows after an oversight visit to assess properties in Gauteng, the Free State, and the Northern Cape, which were allegedly accumulated from the then Bophuthatswana regime led by Lucas Mangope. The Mangope regime is said to have also had properties in countries such as Israel, the United State of America and Vietnam, amongst others, where he used to house what they termed governors at the time.

Motswana says the money could have been lost because of illegal occupation, the unlawful and fraudulent sale of properties involving politicians, government officials and business associates. Motswana lambasted the North West Housing Corporation for the alleged lack of proper accountability of its cross-border properties in Gauteng and the Free State.

“We denounce the conduct of the entity for refusing to give us the correct figures as we discovered that there are more properties of the entity that are not on its asset register in the two provinces that we visited so far.

“During our oversight [visit], we discovered that there are more properties of the North West government in Sandton, Ga-Rankuwa, Mabopane, Madidi, Marapyane, Winterfeldt, Kudube, Thaba Nchu and Selosesha, and the entity has refused to declare illegal occupation by foreign nationals at some properties in Temba. This act of defiance on the figures constitutes contempt of parliament and the rules of the legislature,” Motswana adds.

Motswana further adds that according to the Chief Executive Officer of the North West Housing Corporation, Sello Mogodiri, the entity has properties in the asset register classified as 99-lease properties (old two and four roomed houses built before 1994 by the old South African government). “The total number of those properties is 4 886 and we also have a new stock of about 4 004 properties built by the former Bophuthatswana government, using the loan from Sebowana Holdings (now known as the Public Investment Corporation).

OFM News has sent an inquiry to the North West Housing Corporation's CEO Mogodiri and is awaiting a reply.

The spokesperson of the North West Department of Human Settlements, Tsholofelo Mathibedi, tells OFM News that the department cannot quantify the figures given by the committee chairperson at this stage. He says different processes have to take take place to verify and quantify the figures contained in the allegations. 

"What Mr Aaron Motswana said in terms of the amount, it's not an amount that has been verified or quantified because as the department we would need a verification process which will then help us with how much those properties might be worth," Mathibedi adds.

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