Some Villa Liza homeowners could now find themselves caught in a legal battle over land they believed they had bought lawfully, as the Special Investigating Unit takes its case against 208 allegedly fraudulent transfers to the Special Tribunal today (Friday September 18).
The move brings the case into a new phase, with the Tribunal being asked to decide whether the transfers should be set aside and whether losses suffered by the municipality should be recovered.
The land, in Villa Liza township near Boksburg, had a combined municipal value of about R58 million, according to the SIU.
The application follows an SIU investigation authorised by President Cyril Ramaphosa in October 2024 under Proclamation 195 of 2024.
The SIU found that 208 of the 221 stands were fraudulently transferred between 2018 and 2022 without council resolutions or lawful authority.
According to the investigation, an alleged “agent” identified unallocated municipal land and arranged its sale and transfer to private individuals. The SIU salleged the agent worked with Moki Attorneys Incorporated, a conveyancing firm that was not on the municipality’s panel of approved attorneys.
The investigation found that forged rates clearance certificates and fabricated powers of attorney were used in the transfers. The SIU said the conveyancing firm certified the documents submitted to the Deeds Office as true and correct.
The SIU also found that one person described as the agent had died on 10 January 2022, according to records confirmed by the Department of Home Affairs.
The unit said there was no evidence that municipal officials or officials at the Deeds Office participated in the scheme. It said payments for the stands were made in cash, making the financial transactions difficult to trace.
The SIU said conveyancer Kabelo Valentine Moki and his spouse, Makhosazana Emelda Moki, personally benefited from the transactions, acquiring 73 stands through Velamelda Trust and Mokolane Investments.
According to Deeds Office records examined by the SIU, each stand was sold for R18,000. Municipal valuations ranged from R80,000 to R3.7 million, while the properties were later resold for an average of about R250,000 each.
Some of the properties have since been developed, but the SIU said the municipality receives no revenue from them.
That leaves a question for people now occupying or registered as owners of the affected properties: what happens to homes and other developments if the Tribunal sets the transfers aside?
The SIU obtained an interim interdict from the Special Tribunal in June preventing occupants or registered owners of the 208 stands from selling, transferring, marketing, disposing of, leasing, donating, developing or otherwise dealing with the properties.
On Friday, the unit will ask the Special Tribunal to review and set aside the unlawful transfers and to recover losses incurred by the municipality.
The SIU has also submitted 208 referrals to the National Prosecuting Authority for possible prosecution.
Moki Attorneys Incorporated has been referred to the Legal Practice Council, while referrals have been made to the South African Revenue Service over possible undeclared income and tax irregularities.
The SIU also submitted 147 referrals to the Financial Intelligence Centre relating to alleged non-compliance with the Financial Intelligence Centre Act by the conveyancer.
The investigation also found that 13 of the 221 properties covered by the proclamation were not transferred by the attorneys. The SIU said eight were transferred by the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements, two were privately owned, two remain owned by the municipality and one could not be found in the municipal and Deeds Registry records.
The SIU has recommended that Ekurhuleni strengthen its controls over municipal land, including verification procedures, its property asset register, inspections of municipal-owned land and annual audits of its immovable assets.
It also recommended that the municipality consider an agreement with the Deeds Registration Office to introduce safeguards against the unlawful transfer of municipal land.
For now, the SIU is seeking to unwind the 208 transfers and recover any losses suffered by the municipality. The Tribunal's decision will determine what happens next to the properties caught up in the case. - additional reporting Vivian Warby