Cape Town - The charges of fraud against individuals involved in the proposed shopping mall development at Princess Vlei have been transferred to the Hawks for investigation, police spokesman Captain Frederick van Wyk said on Thursday.
Van Wyk said the charges were being investigated by the Hawks’ commercial fraud division.
The charges were laid by the Princess Vlei Forum, residents opposed to the mall, who say there are “serious irregularities” surrounding the proposed mall.
Meanwhile the provincial government has said anyone who is unhappy with the approval processes around the Princess Vlei shopping mall should take them to court.
The forum maintains that the city council gave rezoning rights to a company called Insight Property Developers Cape, which has since been deregistered, and the forum says these rights cannot be transferred to a new company. A new company appealed to the provincial government to extend the period for which the rezoning was valid. The forum says the rights died when the company was deregistered.
However, the provincial government says they are wrong. Aziel Gangerdine, spokesman for the provincial department of environmental affairs and development planning said yesterday rights granted in terms of town planning legislation to develop the Princess Vlei property were vested in the land, not in a company or individual.
Cape Times