JPC launches investigation into corruption allegations
The City of Joburg Property Company SOC Ltd (JPC), established in 2000, is a company mandated to manage and develop the City of Johannesburg’s (CoJ) property assets for the purpose of maximising both social and commercial opportunities for the Council.Image: Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg
The board of the Johannesburg Property Company (JPC), has placed the CEO of the municipal entity Helen Botes on special leave while investigations into a R27 million transaction with the owners of the building is being investigated.
This comes after the DA laid criminal charges at the Hillbrow police station with claims that JPC was being used as an ANC cash cow.
According to Botes, the building had been occupied by the city’s finance department since 2017. The staff did not stay long in that space but the contractual agreement demanded that the city should reinstate the place upon vacating the building.
This resulted in the city having to pay R27m to the owner of the property. The Star understands that the finance department had left the city before the lease had expired.
Some of the things that needed to be reinstated included lights, floors and other things that had been changed. Maintenance work had also not been done on the building which was a problem.
The DA had alleged that the owner of the company was linked to the ANC and that the company was only started in 2022, something the JPC has denied.
Botes told The Star that she was hurt by the allegations and that she would be suing former Joburg Mayor Mpho Phalatse for bringing her reputation down with allegations which had no merit.
“The transaction was above board and that is why I am submitting myself to an investigation, but I can tell you we have been engaged in negotiations with the owner and we decided to settle,” she said.
Botes, a long-serving employee of the JPC, denied knowledge of any political involvement concerning the leasing of the building.
Meanwhile, the ANC in Joburg questioned why Phalatse did not do anything if she noted something irregular during her time as mayor of the city.
“Dr Phalatse’s latest actions are nothing more than political theatrics as the signing of the contract and payment referred to in her police and public statement are matters that were actioned during Mashaba and Phalatse’s administrations,” the ANC said.
The party said if indeed there was something wrong with the transaction it was an indictment on the DA administration.