‘Landlord’ hits jackpot on State-owned property

IMAGINE raking in more than R1-million a year in rental income off property you do not own.

One Johannesburg businessman has been in this fortunate position for about a decade — and finally this week the Gauteng government concluded an investigation that found it is in fact state-owned land.

The massive chunk of prime land east of Johannesburg is home to Linksfield Nursery and popular eatery Mozambik.

The owners of these businesses are among tenants who pay rent to James Wickstrom.

Wickstrom has to date been unable to provide proof of purchase despite claiming that the government agreed to sell him the land several years ago.

This week, the Gauteng department of infrastructure development confirmed that the land was still owned by the government.

Mbangwa Xaba, spokesman for MEC Nandi MayathulaKhoza, said the land had been leased “at various periods” to occupants who had not stuck to lease agreements.

“This inquiry has established that this property, Erf 61 Rietfontein, was never sold and remains the property of the Gauteng government. Its title deed is T1329/1895.”

Xaba said the department was studying the report to determine what action to take.

“For the department to take any action against anyone on any of its properties, it must satisfy all the legal requirements,” he said.

Wickstrom, who identified himself as a civil engineer, said he believed he owned the land because the province had agreed to sell it to him.

He said it was on the basis of that agreement that he spent millions developing the land.

Bizarrely, he produced a letter, dated 2009, from former public works minister Geoff Doidge that stated the province never had the authority to sell stateowned land anyway.

“The department has interrogated your request and investigations revealed that the subject property is government property under the custodianship of the national department of public works … my department will therefore regard the transaction [to buy the property] as illegal,” the letter said.

It is unclear why, nearly six years later, the Gauteng government needed to do another investigation to determine ownership.

Jack Bloom, a DA member of the Gauteng provincial legislature, said it was shocking that the department was unaware of what was happening on land that it owned — and paid municipal rates for.

He called for a full-scale investigation into the deal struck with Wickstrom. “There’s a lot more to this than meets the eye,” Bloom said.

Wickstrom said he had approached the public protector to intervene as the matter involved “serious issues of maladministration and evidence of criminal activities” that involved billions of rands.

However, he could not provide a reference number for the complaint and the Sunday Times was unable to follow up with the public protector.