Joburg property mogul, philanthropist turns 75
SELECTED by The Star Newspaper as one of the “Top 100 Stars of the South African Community” in the early ‘90s, property tycoon and philanthropist Sayed Mia turns 75 tomorrow.
Mia started as an Afrikaans teacher during apartheid, later sponsoring the “Time to Learn” project – a part-time homework and study group Mia had sponsored to aid students who had no electricity or facilities at home.
A Wits Graduate School of Business, Harvard University and South West University graduate, Mia spent 25 years with Anglo American Life and is now a board chairperson of the SHM group of companies.
In 2006, the Mia family were victorious in a feud over the 2 000ha Waterval land in Midrand. The mixed-use development exceeded R15 billion, making it one of South Africa's prime pieces of land.
Waterfall City now includes luxury apartments, affordable houses, a golf estate, lifestyle village on the river front, a business district, hotel, polo village, retirement villages, a health clinic, a private school, an equestrian estate, retail shopping, as well as a cemetery.
In 1885, Moosa Ismail Mia arrived in Johannesburg from India. His four sons went into business with him and together they built an empire of 70 companies, despite the apartheid laws prohibiting them from running companies or owning land in white areas.
In 1934, Mia and his four sons purchased Farm Waterval for £16 000, from an insolvent estate. Each brother got an equal share after their father’s death. The Group Areas Act restricted the ownership of land by Indians, so they bypassed the Act by issuing 50 000 bearer shares, which could be controlled by any race.
The government appointed what was known as the Indian Penetration Commission. It found it could not be conclusively said it was Indian-owned land and was, therefore, not expropriated.
The father's request, that his sons build a hostel and Islamic School for underprivileged children, was carried out. However, problems started when the oldest brother, Mohammed, died. Islamic law stated that the remaining brothers pay out his sons and widow. Instead, the children were brought into the business by one brother, against the wishes of the other two, and a dispute arose over whether the classification of the land was “holy” or “inheritance”. As holy land, it could not be sold or un-Islamically traded on, but as inheritance, it could be.
After a long battle, the personal profit from the Waterfall City development was used for the education of underprivileged children at the Islamic Institute.