BARBERTON – The dream of a businessman to drive the “unsafe for use” Mercedes-Benz E280, used by the former Umjindi Municipality executive mayor Cllr Richard Lukhele and current mayor, Cllr Lazarus Mashaba, will never materialise.
Barberton Times has learnt that council has rejected businessman Elvis Mathabela’s offer of R63 000 for the vehicle.
In a council ordinary meeting held on December 5, it was initially decided that council would not sell the car because it is way below its market value.
Council had expected it to sell for at least R80 000. It had previously reported that it would place it on an auction with a bid opening value of R80 000, which was offered as trade-in by a garage.
The R63 000 offered by Mathabela was therefore much less than expected.
Auctioneer Johannes Mathibela of Shatandi Auctioneers and Asset Disposal, who was instructed by Umjindi to supplement and sell the Mercedes along with other council-redundant assets, said it was sold subject to confirmation.
According to Mathibela, the sale needed to be confirmed by council.
“This was because the client (Umjindi) was not sure whether it wanted to sell the said property or the offer was too low,” he said. According to council the vehicle will now be put up for auction together with other redundant assets.
Umjindi spokesman, Sam Jele failed to respond to media queries sent to him last December regarding the sale of the car.
However, the Democratic Alliance in Umjindi confirmed that the vehicle is still the council’s property.
Phillip Minnaar of the DA said no procedures were followed when the Mercedes-Benz was first put up for auction. “A resolution was taken that the car had to be auctioned again. The last time the proper procedure was not followed as it was not advertised.
“This time we requested the council to advertise it as part of other assets to be auctioned,” said Minnaar.
Barberton Times had previously reported about the issue on October 16, 2013 when the car had been excluded from several assets listed to be sold on auction.
Many who attended the viewing on October 15 claimed that it was not available. Mathabela couldn’t be reached for comment at the time of going to print.
Read about the bidding here.
