BY STAFF REPORTER
Mpumalanga MEC for Human Settlement, Speedy Mashilo says his department is soon going to overcome the RDP housing scam involving an official eMalahleni municipality.
“We are doing all we can stop this criminal syndicate and am happy that the official allegedly involved in this corruption has been arrested,” he said.
Mashilo added that the lack of verification has exacerbated the corruption. “Here you find that many people have leased the houses and some have rented and the actual owners are not there,” he said. “We have compiled a report from contractors that is going to assist us establish who the real owners are.” “That way we are going to make sure we issue title deeds to the rightful owners.” Four suspects were arrested by members of the Hawks Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team on Wednesday 13 August 2021 for fraud, corruption , theft, forgery and money laundering. Vusumuzi Phakane (52) Emalahleni municipality official, Justice Sambo (46) and Caroline Koloane (29) appeared before the Emalahleni Magistrate Court on Friday 13 August 2021.It is alleged that during October 2020 the accused Phakane who is employed by Municipality as Community Municipal Coordinator had access to information on RDP houses around Emalahleni and colluded with Sambo to sell those houses. The two approached Kgoalane and used her as the advetiser. The unsuspecting victims would respond to the advert seen on social media and be directed by the syndicate to the Municipality offices to complete the agreement of sale forms. They would be further advised to go to the lawyers for the agreement and the victims became convinced that the sale is legitimate. They would be told to make the payment into Sambo’s Nedbank account. The syndicate allegedly shared the money amongst themselves. Whilst the victim occupies the newly purchased house, other victims would also come and produce documents as proof of purchase for the same house. The victims lost approximately R300 000.00 The matter was reported to the Hawks for investigation. During the investigation it was established that the lawful owners of the houses is still alive. The suspects were linked to the allegations, traced and arrested. The three suspects appeared in court, Phakane and Kgoalane were released on R10 000 bail each while Sambo was remanded in custody because he has previous convictions. The case was postponed to 20 August 2021 for Sambo’s formal bail applications
The Provincial Head of the Directorate For Priority Crime Investigation, Major General Zodwa Mokoena warned the public about the scamers who are unlawfully selling the Government houses. She further retiliated that there is no way that the government houses can be sold.
“The public is therefore encouraged to report such types of incidents,” she said.
