More arrests were made in connection with the alleged illegal sale of land in Mahikeng. File Picture: Jörg Husemann/Pixabay
Five other people were arrested in connection with the R144 million illegal sale of municipal land in Mahikeng, in the North West.
Lekitlane Mutsi, 65, Brian Moholo, 66, Tshiamo Moholo, 34, Johannes Petrus van der Merwe, 44, and Barbara Christiane van der Merwe, 47, appeared in the Molopo Magistrate's Court in Mmabatho.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said the case was postponed to December 8 for the arrest of the remaining suspects.
NPA spokesperson in North West division, Henry Mamothame, said Lekitlane was granted R150,000 bail when he appeared in court on Tuesday.
"The other four handed themselves to the Hawks on Wednesday, October 25, 2023, and Brian Moholo was granted R150,000 bail. Tshiamo Moholo is out on R50,000 bail, Johannes van der Merwe R50,000 and Barbara Christiene van der Merwe R20,000."
Mamothame said their case was linked to that of Henry Smit, 70, the former municipality manager of Mahikeng Local Municipality, who was also out on R150,000 bail after he was arrested on October 10.
"Their arrest and court appearance related to the unlawful sale of municipal land to the value of R144 million without council approval and further ignoring the competitive bidding process," he said.
The State charges that on October 31, 2007, Smit illegally agreed with a company for the sale of land belonging to the municipality.
The company only paid R5 million as a deposit to purchase the land. Investigations reveal that the company went into liquidation in December 2011 without paying the municipality the outstanding debt. The assets of this company were subsequently sold to another company for an amount of R16 million at an auction.
In April 2012, the new owners of the land changed their company name, and between 2013 and 2015, they sold and transferred portions of the land to five other companies and a trust account.
"Investigations by the Hawks revealed that directors and shareholders of these companies had links to the company that was liquidated, and they acted in common interest in illegally making gains from the municipal land that was acquired irregularly," Mamothame said.
He said it was further revealed that the company that bought the land from the auction entered into an unlawful agreement with the Social Housing Regulatory Authority (SHRA) to build 2,400 units at a value of over R301 million. An amount of R54 million was allegedly authorised by the North West Department of Human Settlement for the start of the project.
This contract, however, failed to materialise as it was not budgeted for by SHRA. Investigations also revealed that an amount of over R550,000 was allegedly paid as gratification to Brian Moholo, and it was further traced to the purchase of a house for his daughter, Bontle Moholo.
This money was paid through a trust whose trustees are Johannes and Barbara van der Merwe. They are facing charges of fraud, theft, contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA), four charges of contravention of the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Activities Act (Precca), and two charges of corruption, money laundering, and contravention of the Public Finance Management Act (PMFA).
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