Outgoing Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille says she called for a forensic investigation into the controversial auctioning of a Foreshore site. (Netwerk24/Jaco Marais)
On Sunday, outgoing Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille said that she had called for a forensic investigation into the controversial auctioning of a Foreshore site.
“The erf, also known as Site B on the Foreshore, was sold to Growthpoint Properties through an auction for an amount of R86.5-million,” she said in a statement.
“There are allegations that the land was severely undervalued and that this resulted in a loss of R58-million.”
The auction took place in September 2016 — and questions about the integrity of the process have since arisen in various media reports.
“I discussed the matter with the city manager, Lungelo Mbandazayo, and this week wrote to him to request that he initiates a forensic investigation into what exactly transpired throughout this sale process.”
In September this year, GroundUp and the Independent Online reported that deputy mayor Ian Neilson had rubbished claims made by social justice advocacy group Ndifuna Ukwazi that the city had sold the property for the incorrect bulk amount.
GroundUp reported that there was an error in the way certain floor space measurements were recorded in the auction documents – which affected the valuation of the property. — News24