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The Democratic Alliance (DA) feels vindicated in our assertion that the Johannesburg Property Company (JPC) has failed in its mandate as the custodians of the properties owned by the City of Joburg.

The report handed over to Premier Lesufi into the Usindiso fire is just one example of the failure of the JPC, headed up by Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Helen Botes.

In our response to the Mayor’s State of the City Adress, we highlighted the fact that the JPC is unable to share basic information such as the number of buildings the city owns. They neither know the conditions of the buildings, nor how much money it collects on behalf of the City.

There can be no clearer indication of an oversight failure by an executive.

It's unfortunate that this ANC-EFF-PA-Al Jama-ah coalition is bent on bringing the City of Joburg to its knees.

There were already material findings regarding the CEO of JPC by the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) after an investigation into Personal Protection Equipment Corruption. Following which she was placed on Suspension by the Multiparty Government.

The ANC-EFF-PA-Al Jama-ah Doomsday coalition defied these findings and decided to reinstate Ms Helen Botes despite the SIU material findings and recommendations against her.

In the interest of transparency, we call for a full investigation into every transaction signed off by her, as well as an investigation into every building managed by the JPC and its activities to avoid another Usindiso Tragedy. This investigation should, however, go further than that, and examine all transactions signed-off with regards to all city owned land, outdoor advertising on city owned land, and buildings under the JPC’s custodianship.

To date, nobody knows how much money the JPC has collected on behalf of the city.

The DA has long said that Cadre deployment is at the root of the problems in Johannesburg and it’s for this reason that the we call for the immediate dismissal of the CEO of JPC, Ms Helen Botes, who at the helm of JPC has caused immeasurable damage to the City.

This unfortunate loss of life, could not only have been avoided to start off with, but we can prevent further loss of life.

Issued by Cllr Bongani Nkomo - DA Shadow MMC for Economic Development