Nelson Mandela Bay UDM councillor Mongameli Bobani wants the police to investigate the municipal bosses at City Hall for the R33m purchase of a building in Govan Mbeki Avenue.
Bobani opened a case on Monday night at the Humewood police station.
In his affidavit, he claimed, municipal manager Johann Mettler and mayor Athol Trollip did not have the council’s approval to buy the Fidelity House building.
However, minutes of the September and October 2017 council meetings show that the purchase of the building was approved by the council after amending the amount needed to acquire the building from R30m to R38m.The minutes also show that Bobani even commented on the issue at the meeting and proposed that the amendment not be supported as funds should be prioritised for the upliftment of the poor, and there was no rush to purchase the building.
The municipality decided to buy the building as it was forking out R400,000 a month to rent three floors.
The council resolved that Trollip and Mettler be authorised to sign any documents related to the transaction.
But Bobani is adamant.
He said Mettler bought the building for R33m even though property evaluators had listed its value at R27m.
“The value of the property was known to the perpetrators as property valuations are done by the municipality in terms of the Property Rates Act,” Bobani said in his statement to the police.
In his affidavit, Bobani described the purchase as fraudulent and corrupt.
He alleged he had in his possession documents relating to the sale of the building which proved his point.
Bobani said the conduct of the municipal officials was calculated to benefit the owners of the property unduly.
“The undue financial benefit therefore was intended to defraud the municipality to steal ratepayers’ monies,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mettler said he was not aware of the case opened against him.
“But as always and as usual, I welcome any investigation,” Mettler said.
Police spokesperson Warrant Officer Alwin Labans confirmed Bobani opened a case.
“He opened a fraud case on July 16 at 8pm. Police are now investigating this matter,” Labans said.
Bobani has also in the past called on authorities to investigate Trollip and Mettler.