Inner City Gazette

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Est 2009

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Issue 8 - 2018

Tel : 011 024-8210 / 011 402 - 1977 Inner-City Gazette

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1 - 8 March 2018

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City to expropriate buildings IT HAS BEEN ESTIMATED THAT THERE IS;

By Staff Reporter news@inner-city-gazette.co.za

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l 300 000 of housing units backlog; l 158 000 individuals on the housing waiting list; l 190 informal settlements; and l 3 000 individuals migrating to Johannesburg per month.

he city of Joburg seeks to rejuvenate the Inner city of Joburg and to ensure that development results in quality low cost housing, student accommodation, and affordable rental space for small businesses.

“The City of Joburg is commencing with plans to expropriate derelict buildings in the inner city,” said Cllr Herman Mashaba.

Thus far, statistics revealed that 265 alleged hijacked buildings have been reported to the City and the matters are at various stages of investigation.

The City’s Group Forensics and Investigations Services (GFIS) Unit has made many inroads into the scourge of property hijackings in the Inner City.

Some of the highlights of work done by this Unit over the past eight months include: l 15 property hijackers have been arrested; l 12 properties have been returned to owners; l Nine criminal dockets are currently before the Courts; and l In December 2017, a property hijacker and his accomplice (an attorney) were convicted of fraud and sentenced to 15 years and 8 years in prison respectively.

“To ensure that this challenge is address holistically, it is imperative that cases of property hijackings are dealt with both criminally and

The City conducted a clean-up, as rubble and dirt piles next to a derelict building. Picture: Moses Moyo

civilly. The process includes the criminal prosecution of the hijackers, as well as civil litigation to address the issues of bylaw compliance as well as the City potentially taking over ownership of these buildings,” said Mashaba.

The Mayor revealed that, Forty-eight (48) matters are currently being investigated by the

City for civil proceedings such as expropriation, declaratory orders, attachment of debts, and abandonment agreements. The outcome of the investigations will guide the most suitable action that will be taken by the City in dealing with these buildings.

The Mayor points out that, the redevelop-

ment of such properties will greatly assist the City in enhancing access to low cost, affordable housing for residents close to economic opportunities.

As some properties have been abandoned and owners cannot be traced. It is difficult, if not impossible, for the City to ensure compliance with applicable by-laws, which in turn contributes to the degradation of the urban environment.

Where the owners of hijacked buildings cannot be located despite a diligent search, the City intends to bring an application for a declaratory order to declare that the property has been abandoned and directing the Registrar of Deeds to register the property in the name of the State or its nominee.

The City had written to the former Minister of Public Works, Mr Nathi Nhleko, to request that an agreement be concluded with the Department of Public Works, in which the Department will name the City as its nominee for the transfer of these abandoned properties in Johannesburg.

“I can confirm that the former Minister’s office had received our correspondence and was in the process of considering the matter.

“Given recent political shifts within the Department, I hope that the new Minister of Public Works, Mr Thulas Nxesi, will give our request his full attention, as a matter of urgency.

“This will ensure that the City is able to expedite the redevelopment of these properties for the benefit of our poorest residents.” City of Johannesburg’s Executive Mayor said.

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Inner-city Gazette

Contact Lorraine Makgale on:

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Finance tips

Inner-city Gazette

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FNB heightens fight against debit order fraud

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n a bid to continue combating the scourge of rouge debit orders impacting the industry and some of its customers, FNB has waived the fee for stopping unauthorised debit orders through its electronic banking channels and is also actively clamping down on business customers who are facilitating unauthorised collections.

Ryan Prozesky, FNB Consumer Core Banking CEO, says the issue of unauthorised debit orders is of great concern to us as a bank, given our promise of helpfulness and to always keep our customers’ money safe.

Therefore, we are not prepared to sit back and watch our customers bear the brunt, but will continue taking the lead in identifying effective measures and solutions to protect them.

“We believe that eliminating fees associated with stopping debit orders via our electronic channels will empower customers to have full control of their bank accounts. Customers will no longer be charged for stopping unauthorised debit orders of less than R200 through the FNB App, Online Banking and USSD for those who do not have access to the internet and smartphones,” says Prozesky.

Furthermore, the bank is actively monitoring and analysing non-FNB businesses that are processing illegal debit orders on FNB customers’ accounts while taking steps to act decisively to curb such activity among its business clients. Those who are found to be processing illegal debit orders will be reported to the Payments Association of South

Ryan Prozesky, FNB Consumer Core Banking CEO Africa (PASA) and the bank will eventually terminate its services.

“While we are collaborating with the industry to develop long term solutions, including DebiCheck, we see it as our role as a responsible bank to warn and help customers protect their hard earned cash,” adds Prozesky.

FNB customers are currently notified via SMS every time a new debit order is raised on their accounts for the first time, as well as the amount and the service provider’s name, and if they believe it to be unauthorised, have the ability to stop, dispute and reverse it.

“When stopping a particular unauthorised debit order, customers are able to specify a Rand value or range of amounts to prevent debit orders from a particular collector to be processed in the future. It is advisable for consumers to select a wide Rand value range to make sure that the unauthorised collector cannot simply change the Rand value and thereby circumvent the stop instruction,” advises Prozesky.

The bank also has a proactive fraudulent debit order warning system which alerts customers, through SMS or App notifications, to potential suspicious deb-

it orders that are currently running. Furthermore, FNB App registered InContact users will receive alerts for all transactions regardless of the amount.

This gives them full visibility of all monthly debit orders processed against their accounts.

Along with the notification system, FNB has an added functionality on its electronic platforms that allows customers to view which current debit orders are running off their account as well as the ability to stop, dispute and reverse debit orders that they believe are unauthorised. “Debit orders that are higher

than R200 can still be stopped, disputed and reversed via our contact centre or at any FNB branch, at a fee.

“This is due to the fact that a majority of rogue debit orders are less than R100 and to further prevent customers from abusing the system by reversing or stopping legitimate debit orders,” explains Prozesky. Lastly, apart from reversing rogue debit order, customers are further urged to report all companies involved in this illegal activity to the Payments Association of South Africa (PASA) via email at pasa@pasa.org.za or by dialling 010 140 7100.

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Inner-city Gazette

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‘Put people first’ - says Makhura ‘It might seem like it’s the only department but on a daily basis citizens endure victimisation from public servants who are hired to serve them’

By Staff Reporter news@inner-city-gazette.co.za

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auteng Provincial Government senior managers have rallied behind the new dawn – recommitting themselves to Batho Pele principles, high standards of accountability, values and serving the public with passion.

Subsequently, all senior public servants in the province signed a pledge recommitting to serve the public with dignity after the meeting Premier David Makhura to talk about the renewal of the public service as espoused by President Cyril Ramaphosa during the State of the Nation Address. The meeting took place at Centurion in Pretoria on Wednesday, 28 February 2018.

“Public servants should be aware of the enormous responsibility they have as millions of people depend on the service they render.

“We need determined, ethical, and dedicated public servants,” said Makhura.

The meeting comes after the commitment Makhura made during the State of the Province Address on Monday where he promised all South Africans that he will be meeting with all senior managers to discuss a renewal of public service in the wake of the Life Esidimeni tragedy which glaringly showed government’s service delivery challenges.

“It would be a problem if we think the Life Esidimeni tragedy is only

Gauteng Premier, David Makura inspects a SAPS gaurd of honour before presenting the State of the Province Address (#SOPA2018).

the problem of the Department of Health. It might seem like it’s the only department but on a daily basis citizens endure victimisation from public servants who are hired to serve them. Premier Makhura reiter-

ated that stability, continuity and consistency were key in ensuring that public service worked better.

He made a call to senior managers to leave the meeting with a renewed sense of service and commended

those senior managers whose departments have received clean audits in the past financial year.

He further warned corrupt senior managers that he has appointed an ethics advisory council led by civil

Picture: Doctor Moyo

society to help Gauteng fight corruption., warning senior managers that this new dawn demands even more accountability as well as consequence for people who break the law.

City to tackle homelessness

By Staff Reporter news@inner-city-gazette.co.za

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he City of Joburg, which is a responsive and pro-poor govern-

ment, has established and strengthened several programmes aimed at assisting and

managing people living and working in the streets.

According to the 2015 Human

MMC Mpho Phalatse chats with residents at the City’s 03 Kotze Street overnight shelter in Hillbrow

Sciences Resource Council, South Africa has about 200 000 street homeless people. Homelessness is a complex term that has three distinguishable characteristics which are primary, secondary and tertiary homelessness.

Primary homeless is when a person does not have conventional shelter.

Secondary homeless is when a person has access to temporary shelter. For example a person can be homeless in the urban space but have homes in rural areas. Tertiary homelessness is characterised as someone who has access to some form of housing such as informal houses and trailers.

As part of the City’s comprehensive strategy to assist the homeless, it has interventions to break the cycle of people living on the streets and transition them back into society.

The key interventions managed by the City’s department of Social Development are; Shelter management, awareness and prevention, community reintegration, family reunification and skills development The City’s 03 Kotze Street overnight

shelter in Hillbrow has 150 beds. The shelter caters primarily for economically active street-dwellers. Occupants of the shelter are only expected to pay a nominal fee of R8 and get access to washing facilities, food and a locker.

The Kotze Street shelter also provides the Chow4Change awareness event that seeks to restore the dignity of homeless and street people and communicate their plight to greater society.

The Chow4Change awareness is done through the use of a pop-up restaurant and second hand clothing store.

The awareness programme exposes homeless and street people to a restaurant setting, donated clothes, medical services, counselling, shelter placement and enrolment to drug rehabilitation assessment.

Some of the other interventions offered by Social Development include outreach services, where the department targets hotspots that are invaded by street and homeless people.

At the hotspots education about the services available for them and how to access them is given.

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Inner-city Gazette

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Dr Rabelani Dagada fights back “The truth is that Councillor Mashaba sacked me because I stood up to him on several occasions”

By Staff Reporter news@inner-city-gazette.co.za

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r. Rabelani Dagada who is a Democratic Alliance PR Councillor, and former Member of Mayoral Committee (MMC) of Finance at the City of Johannesburg has issued a statement responding to allegations levelled against him by the City of Johannesburg Executive Mayor Cllr Herman Mashaba.

Dr Dagada vows to clear his name on alleged false accusations, which led to him losing his top job in the City. According to Dagada, the City of johannesburg is being run by two people, namely the Mayor’s Chief of Staff, Mr Michael Beaumont and Cllr Herman Mashaba.

“It was only former City Manager, Trevor Fowler, former MMC – Anthony Still, and I who could say “no” to Mashaba and Beaumont,” said Dagada.

The following is an extract from the statement issued by Dr Dagada, “Since July 2017, there have been unrelenting efforts by Mayor Mashaba to remove me from the Mayoral Committee.

As far as I can remember, my expulsion on Monday, 15 January 2018 was the fifth and only successful attempt to remove me from the Mayoral Committee.

After my removal, a special Democratic Alliance (DA) Johannesburg Caucus meeting was convened and the Mayor informed fellow councillors that he had been trying to remove me for the last nine months. Each time the mayor wanted to remove me, various reasons would be advanced, and the DA Federal Executive (FEDEX) was not convinced.

During the FedEx meeting which took place on Sunday, 14 January 2018, Councillor Mashaba threatened to resign from the party if the DA leadership did not allow him to expel me (the Mayor himself confirmed this to me).

“My removal from the Mayoral Committee had nothing to do with the reasons contained in the public statement that the Mayor issued.

“In fact, there is a complete disjuncture between the issued statement and the contents of the two draft forensic investigation reports from which he claimed to have based his decision.

“If the Mayor was acting in good faith, why was his statement fraught with ex-

“It is a matter of record that numerous unsuccessful attempts were on several occasions made to remove me as the MMC for Finance in the City of Johannesburg. These attempts failed because there was not an iota of evidence pointing to any wrongdoing on my part. This led to clandestine, crooked methods being employed to manufacture damning evidence against me” - Dagada aggerations and untruths? For example, the mayor wrote that he based his decision to sack me on the forensic report, which was concluded on Friday, 12 January 2018.

“This is untrue because, on the aforementioned date, my lawyer and I made submissions to the investigators late in the afternoon. On the same date, and late at night – I had to resend my input after the investigators claimed that they did receive the email.

“Actually, by mid-February 2018, final reports pertaining to the two investigations were not yet issued.

“The truth is that Councillor Mashaba is a bully and sacked me because I stood up to him on several occasions.

“Firstly, I wrote an email questioning the increasing accumulation of political executive powers by the Mayor’s Chief of Staff, Mr Michael Beaumont.

“While his responsibility was to provide administrative support to the Mayor and head-up the Mayor’s private office, Beaumont was taking over some responsibilities of the Leader of Executive Business, and Members of Mayoral Committee (MMCs).

“In effect, Beaumont had become a de facto Executive Deputy Mayor. My criticism was not taken well by both Councillor Mashaba and Beaumont.

“Matters came to a head on Friday, 27 April 2017 when, in the presence of other MMCs and some officials, I reminded both the Mayor and his Chief of Staff that as long as I am MMC for Finance, they should not treat me like a token. We were at a break-away session in Kievits

Dr Rabelani Dagada (right) Kroon, north-eastern Pretoria, attending a Strategic Partners Lekgotla with other coalition partners and the Economic Freedom Fighters to discuss the 2017/2018 Budget.

“The programme and all other arrangements were done without my involvement. My name did not even feature in the programme, notwithstanding the fact that I was the portfolio head of Finance. Henceforward, my relationship with Councillor Mashaba and Beaumont worsened.

“Thereafter, they would go out of their way to defame, embarrass, and make my presence in the Mayoral Committee unbearable and intolerable.

“Since the first attempt to sack me in July 2017, I realised that I had lost my battle with them and since then – the

Mayor Mashaba’s response to Dagada’s statement

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he Mayor’s position on the dismissal of Councillor Dagada remains – that Cllr Dagada breached the City’s Code of Conduct by not declaring his interests and, subsequently, conflicts of interest with individuals closely associated with him.

Further to this, the forensic investigation has found Cllr Dagada to have been involved in price fixing with a service provider to the City, and in the process acted against his sworn duty to our residents.

Should the Councillor wish to test the matter in court, that is his right,

Mayor Cllr Herman Mashaba.

and an opportunity the Mayor would welcome. Indeed, a process through

the Council’s Ethics committee is set to unfold in this respect.

Members of the Mayoral committee serve in line with the wishes of the Mayor based on a variety of features including trust, transparency and honesty, which are cornerstones of that professional relationship.

No leader, championing clean government could be expected to fold their hands when those responsible for good governance fail to live up to the standards of conduct and ethics that they are meant to uphold.

City is literally run by two people, Councillor Mashaba and Beaumont. It was only former City Manager, Trevor Fowler, former MMC – Anthony Still, and I who could say “no” to Mashaba and Beaumont.

“Now that the three of us are gone, Mayor Mashaba and Beaumont have usurped the responsibilities of the Mayoral Committee, City Manager (Accounting Officer), Caucus Management, and in some instances the powers of the Council. Some Heads of Departments would by-pass the City Manager, and their political heads (MMCs) and report directly to Beaumont. For the last few months, he is chauffeur-driven by the JMPD; thanks to the minority coalition government. Even the African National Congress that Mayor Mashaba despises

does not display such excesses.

“When several attempts to remove me became futile, some of the officials who were assisting the Executive Mayor to sack me allegedly embarked on illegal activities.

“It is my contention that although both Councillor Mashaba and Beaumont harboured immense hatred towards me, they were not aware, not part of, and would not have approved these alleged illegal activities.

“The above-mentioned unlawful activities included putting pressure and colluding with some staff members to manufacture allegations against me; putting me under surveillance by monitoring my movements and bugging my phones.

“During the Mayoral Lekgotla, which took place from Monday, 13 to Wednesday, 15 November 2017, a staff member who worked for the Group Forensic Investigation Services (GFIS) advised me not to sleep in the room allocated to me because bugging devices were installed, and thus I had to sleep at home.

“After being removed from the Mayoral Committee, the same GFIS official visited me at my home and advised me to tread carefully because I was still under surveillance.

“I apparently angered his line manager by threatening to go to the High Court to have the forensic reports reviewed. He further informed me that had I remained in the Mayoral Committee beyond January 2018, I would have been “eliminated”.

“This is what happens when (allegedly) rogue officials create an illegal intelligence gathering function and irregular slush fund, which is mainly funded by bribes from some of the investigating companies.

“There is a perception that forensic investigation contracts are overpriced at the City of Johannesburg. My informer told me that some forensic investigating companies have started complaining that there is a rogue official who demands a lot of money (kickbacks) and one company was instructed to add R3-million on an R2-million investigation. A comparison of forensic investigation expenditure with the City of Tshwane found that, while Tshwane has spent about R12-million in investigations, Johannesburg had overspent by R80-million.

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