Johannesburg - The man who bought the Sandton mansion that belonged to former ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema does not have the R5.9 million that he promised at the auction four months ago.
Gauteng businessman Norman Tloubatla has been forced to cancel the bid for the half-built house. And The Sunday Independent understands that Tloubatla now forfeits a R1m deposit that he managed to put down for the mansion. Tloubatla did not respond to calls and SMSes this week.
His relative, Mantoma Tloubatla, said he had instructed her not to give his number to anybody and that The Sunday Independent should contact his legal team.
Attorney Carl Gjersoë, who represented Tloubatla at the time of the auction, said he was no longer representing him.
Sars spokesman Adrian Lackay on Saturday confirmed that the bid for the property was cancelled and the house will go on sale again later this year. He said Tloubatla could not raise the money and had to cancel the deal.
Neither auctioneer Pieter Geldenhuys from Bidders Choice nor curators Cloete Murray from Sechaba Trust and Aviwe Ndyamara from the Tshwane Trust Company would this week comment on the failed bid.
“This is news to me as well. I am not the transferring attorneys. You would pay the deposit to the attorneys not to me,” said Geldenhuys.
Ndyamara referred queries to the revenue service. “I can’t give you any comment. Please can you speak to SARS,” said Ndyamara.
Malema’s lawyer Tumi Mokwena said that he had not been informed of the problem with the purchase. “I am sure they will inform us in due course,” said Mokwena.
The Sunday Independent understands that the house will not necessarily be auctioned off as curators could decide to put it on the market. But it is understood that a decision has not yet been made.
The R5.9m sale would have resulted in a massive reduction of the R16m tax bill of the leader of the newly formed Economic Freedom Fighters party.
On May 9, Tloubatla, 43, outbid several fellow bidders at the auction of Malema’s home. Tloubatla successfully put a R5.9m bid for the property, which Malema purchased for R3.6m three years earlier.
According to Sars, in its application to the Pretoria High Court earlier this year to put Malema under sequestration, the property was valued at R7.1m, but Malema purchased it for R3.6m.
And an amount of R5.8m was paid to the building contractor in respect of the work done on the premises.
On the day of the auction Tloubatla had forked out his 10 percent deposit of R590 000 and had another 30 days to come up with the remaining R5.3m to make up the R5.9m.
Tloubatla, who lives in Fourways, is the chief executive of Magnified Designs and also owns Lethlabile Civils.
He is a director in several other companies.
Earlier this week, the Sowetan newspaper reported that Tloubatla could face charges of tax fraud after documentation submitted to the revenue service alleged that he fabricated invoices to evade tax. The revenue service is still verifying the documentation.
Last month Malema accused Sars of unethical conduct and said they rejected his request for a tax compromise for political reasons. But he has been at loggerheads with the taxman and the curators of his estate for several months.
Malema is under curatorship and the hearing for him to be placed under sequestration will take place next month. At the end of March, the curators of his estate brought an application to the Pretoria High Court that Malema was in contempt of court for not declaring all his assets.
The application came about after Malema’s household contents, which were auctioned in Polokwane, only amassed R54 000. The application was later withdrawn.
Malema’s Limpopo home was sold on auction for R1.4-million in July this year.
And in a separate matter, his cabbage farm in Limpopo was sold for R2.5m after it was seized by the Asset Forfeiture Unit relating to the criminal charges of fraud, money laundering and racketeering which he faces in the Polokwane Magistrate’s Court for his involvement in a R52m tender awarded by the Limpopo department of roads. The trial is scheduled for November.
Sunday Independent