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Johannesburg - An enormous property project that would have provided 78 500 dwelling units for the World Cup soccer tournament appears to have been a hoax.
Katota, a company owned by Ghanaian businessman Joseph Eshun, undertook to buy and complete almost 100 residential developments from developers for nearly R50bn.
There are less than two weeks left before the soccer spectacle and not a single Katota project has been completed.
And the developers, whose selling activities have come to a halt while they wait for Katota, are still waiting for their money.
Several have since been liquidated.
But Katota is still trying to entice developers into its highly questionable scheme.
May 21, the due date for the latest promise to produce guarantees, has also come and gone, as has the date on which funding was to have been obtained from Dubai.
Katota owes millions to contractors who have already begun construction, as well as to others who paid R110 000 per project to have their developments valued.
The intention was to buy the land and the development and then to appoint a contractor to complete it on Katota’s behalf.
The Coalition of Supporters Union of Africa would then be provided with accommodation during the World Cup soccer tournament.
Last week Sake24.com established that construction projects in which Katota has been involved are standing half-finished, and the contractor is not being paid.
Frikkie Mellett from the company Proudafrique, which has since been liquidated, says that two years ago he entered into a contract with Donovan Atkins – the agent soliciting projects for Katota – for the construction of 422 houses at Heritage Manor in Krugersdorp and 298 at Sagewood in Midrand.
After that, he says, Atkins entered into a contract with Katota on his behalf for the construction of the houses. He then built 219 at Heritage and 176 at Sagewood, three-quarters of which have been completed.
He is unable to continue building because Atkins apparently owes him millions. He says that Atkins seemingly sold clients erven for which banks had provided finance – even before the services had been completed.
In November last year he reported a case of fraud to the police's organised crime division, but no progress has so far been made in this regard.
- Sake24.com
For business news in Afrikaans, go to www.sake24.com.