NPA halts sale of land in Mahikeng Municipality fraud case

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has filed for an urgent interdict in a bid to halt another sale of land that used to belong to the Mahikeng Local Municipality in the North West.

The land was allegedly sold fraudulently more than 16 years ago and is linked to a Hawks investigation into corruption.

The initial sale also included a portion of land where the provincial Human Settlements Department invested R54-million for the abandoned Marang Estates.

Prime development land was sold for next to nothing and is now at the center of a corruption investigation.

The current owner wants to sell the land again forcing the NPA to file an urgent interdict in a bid to halt the sale.

The Mahikeng Local Municipality initially wanted to sell the land marked for development for R144-million but only got around R5-million.

This dubious deal is still under investigation 16 years later and the company that obtained this bargain is now in liquidation without settling their debt to the municipality.

The land was later sold on auction to another company for R16 million. The company then changed names and sold and transferred portions of the land to five other companies and a trust account.  Law enforcement agencies tried unsuccessfully on numerous occasions to get a preservation order, arguing that the land was obtained through criminal means.

They returned to court again after the current owner put the land up for sale.

he companies’ legal representative, Dirk van Niekerk, in a WhatsApp message says this is abuse of the legal process and that the NPA had previously been unsuccessful with three different forfeiture applications to the high court.

Their previous application was dismissed in February 2024 and it is therefore possible that his clients would be able to sell the property.

NPA spokesperson in the North West, Sive Gunya, however, denies that they are abusing the court process.

“The prevention of organised crime act allows the AFU to proceed on an ex parte basis. The case was previously dealt with on technicalities and not on merits. This is not an abuse of process. We will await their application for a rescission of the preservation order. The NPA will not allow suspects to remain with proceeds of crime in their possession. This is not an abuse of process. We will await their application for a rescission of the preservation order.”

Opposition parties in the North West say a proper land audit needs to be done and the matter concluded speedily.

Fanon Moema, spokesperson for the EFF in the North West, “We are quite concerned that even now the case is ongoing and there is no logic conclusion as to when it will be concluded. And on the other hand, the person who bought the property illegally is now about to auction. So, as the EFF we are going to initiate a fully blown investigation into this and also look at the possible ways of stopping this process until the case has reached its own conclusion.”

DA’s councillor in the Mahikeng Local Municipality, Arista Annadale says, “This thing of municipal managers and officials doing as they please is a Pasella all the time. I’m sure if we do similar investigations to this one, we will find other irregularities as well. This particular situation let’s believe that the NPA will be able to stop the auction so that the investigations can be concluded. And so that justice will prevail.”

ActionSA’s Provincial Chairperson Kwena Mangope says “This is clear dereliction of duty and it’s unacceptable. ActionSA calls upon the provincial NPA to immediately establish specialized anti-corruption courts, including additional forensic expertise in the NPA to ensure it has the capacity to effectively and efficiently investigate corruption.”

The then municipal manager of the Mahikeng Local Municipality and six others have since appeared in court on charges of fraud, corruption, theft, contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act and the Public Finance Management Act.

The Mahikeng Local Municipality says they have not been able to recover any money lost during the sale.