Pretoria - The City of Tshwane has put the brakes on a R280 million land deal done by the then administrators when the metro was under provincial administration last year.
The land was intended for the residents left homeless after the floods in Mamelodi in 2019.
City Chief of Staff Jordan Griffiths said the administrators had planned to use land set aside for Covid-19 relief projects as instructed by the National Treasury.
He said the Treasury had urged all municipalities to re-direct utility services development grants to support the war against Covid-19.
He said that for the City of Tshwane the grant amounted to nearly R500 million; the amount was to be used on the land deal was R280m, while the remainder went towards fighting the pandemic.
He said the land deal was halted by the DA-led administration when it returned to power after successfully challenging the dissolution of council.
“The land purchase was done by the administrators who utilised funding that should have been directed towards Covid-19 support,” Griffiths said.
“This transaction was in the final stages of its conclusion when the DA administration took office.
However, we have been able to prevent the finalisation of this sale so that a full interrogation can be done on the valuations of these land parcels and the motivation and thinking behind why the administrators wanted to purchase this particular piece of land. Thankfully the DA returned to office before this transaction was concluded.”
The City of Tshwane allocated some of the flood victims to stands in Mooiplaas in September last year.
Pretoria News