The Gauteng Department of Human Settlements (GDHS) bought three land parcels on 13 March 2019, handing an instant paper profit of R158.7 million to Landworth, a company owned by real estate mogul Ralebala 'Rali' Mampeule. | amaBhungane
The Gauteng Department of Human Settlements bought three land parcels on 13 March 2019, handing an instant paper profit of R158.7 million to Landworth, a company owned by real estate mogulLandworth bought the land parcels for R86.25 million from another developer, Jordi Properties, and then charged the Department R244.
Looking at the deeds office documents, it appeared to us that Landworth had sold the 63.9-hectare portions of Eagles Nest to the GDHS even before they were the legal owners. "This sale was for R86.25 million. Note that Phase 2, was and remains a private transaction. It therefore does not form part of the scope of the accelerated affordable housing transaction with GDHS."
When we reached one director, Moshe Cohen, for a comment on 17 November 2022, he told us:"You are talking to the wrong guy." We had by then seen a document signed by Cohen on 19 February 2019 in which Jordi agreed to sell Landworth both the properties for a price"to be agreed upon". By 19 February when Jordi and Landworth signed the"mandate", the deal between the"landowner" and the HDA was already sealed.
"The negotiations in this regard started weeks before we offered the land to the ultimate buyer. Landworth representatives and our attorneys were present at the negotiation meetings with the HDA and there are minutes of these meetings that prove this." In our access to information application to the HDA, we requested the agency to provide correspondence setting out the mandate given to the HDA by the GDHS to negotiate acquisition of the land.
But what's clear is that had GDHS directly bought the land from Jordi, this could have saved the department millions of rands. So, the GDHS documents obtained by amaBhungane show, in late May 2019, Landworth and GDHS signed an addendum to the sale agreement, which provided that Landworth lodge a R50 million performance guarantee to ensure the improvements were carried out.
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