Tangeni Amupadhi reports on an inquiry into Northern Province property deals that have earned a fortune for an amiable Greek millionaire
TO the politicians and community leaders of the Northern Province he is a fatherly figure, a kind of patron saint of Phalaborwa. Dimitri Kourtoumbellides, known to his friends as Jimmy, has on various occasions settled feuds within the African National Congress, helped taxi operators get on their feet and built houses for his domestic workers. He has helped the poor pay for funerals, and sponsored bursaries for needy students.
According to evidence presented to the Semenya Commission of Inquiry last week, however, Kourtoumbellides has sold a building valued at R8-million to the provincial government for more than R18- million. Quantity surveyor Michael South testified that the government paid more for the building than it would for office space in Sandton.
Kourtoumbellides and his partners have also received R40-million for the construction of a government complex, in which tender procedures were apparently flouted. Two cheques for R20-million each were paid out in October and November.
The commission of inquiry was set up by Northern Province Premier Ngoako Ramathlodi to look into financial irregularities in acquisition of property. So far the amiable Greek millionaire has occupied centre stage.
Kourtoumbellides refused to speak to the Mail & Guardian, and he allegedly told the local newspaper in Pietersburg, The Northern Review, that he would sue if it published his photograph. A spokesman for Kourtoumbellides, who would identify himself only as Rebo, said any article about him would be referred to his lawyers.
Jo Mathebula, the mayor of Phalaborwa, Kourtoumbellides’s home town, said the evidence presented to the commission has created the wrong impression.
Kourtoumbellides reportedly owns at least 50% of the buildings in Phalaborwa. He also owns property in Pietersburg and runs a service station and garage.
“A lot of people have benefited from Jimmy’s kindness,” said Mathebula. “He is a really nice man. There could have been administrative problems [in the sale], but he is a clean man.”
Mathebula said he has known Kourtoumbellides for 20 years and described him as his “best buddy” . He called him a conciliator and a messiah.
In the early 1990s, Kourtoumbellides reportedly posted bail for 20 ANC members arrested for political activities, said a local ANCleader. Before local government elections in 1995, Mathebula added, he was “instrumental” in uniting Phalaborwa with neighbouring communities in the former homelands of Gazankulu and Lebowa after they had refused to form one town council.
More recently, “serious disputes” over who should represent the ANC and its allies in the local election were only solved after Kourtoumbellides’s intervention, he said.
Despite his prominent position in the community, Kourtoumbellides has refused any formal leadership positions, and he turned down an invitation to join the local council as an ANC representative. He is, Mathebula said, content to be a businessman.
An official in the provincial Department of Public Works said Kourtoumbellides is well liked by provincial leaders, but he declined to give names.
“He plays a facilitating role in various matters in the province, and he has been instrumental in bringing about change and tolerance among people in the movement … I regard him as a comrade,” Mathebula said.
There are those in the community who say the only people who do not like him are whites who disapproved of his links with blacks during the apartheid era.
But the building disclosures are likely to cause some discomfort among his allies. They are also likely to add to the ANC’s discontent with Ramathlodi. The premier was recently defeated as the ANC’s provincial chairman, by Senator George Mashamba, who ignored the instructions of the ANC’s national executive committee not to contest the position.
Ramathlodi is viewed as a man who has run a clean administration. It is his government that is investigating the building of the government complex. Yet Ramathlodi appointed the Cabinet committee on accommodation that allegedly diverted R97- million from the salaries of provincial employees to pay for the first phase of the complex.
The total cost of the complex has been estimated at more than R300-million, a sum that has yet to be included in the provincial budget. Construction by Kourtoumbellides and associates has been halted and tenders have been invited.
John Malatji, director general of the province, addressed the local media this week about the building Kourtoumbellides sold to the province for more than twice its value. “Public works made a naive assumption that it could go ahead and buy the building. Technically speaking, they should have gone back to the tender board. But I have to state that this was a mistake, and not a malicious action.”
Public Works finance director Maleho Nkomo said one reason why the province has been unable to keep track of its finances is that the finance department is “unable to do basic arithmetic”, and the computer system cannot track expenditure.