ANOTHER hijacked house has been returned to its rightful owner.
This brings the number of hijacked properties returned to their rightful owners to 11.
Stand number Erf 2529 at 273 Fawcus Street in Malvern was returned to its lawful owner, Miss Nonhlanhla Mbatha on January 14 following access to the property being denied by tenants.
Jonathan Constable was allegedly linked to the matter and said to have colluded with tenants not to pay rent to the new property owner, Mbatha.
The Group Forensic Investigation Services unit and the police pressed charges against Constable which have to date resulted in his arrest. Bail was denied on Friday, January 12.
This follows another case which saw another property in Turffontein returned to its rightful owner.
On January 8, the property at 11 Stanton Street in Turffontein was also returned to its rightful owners after they reported the matter to the city’s investigations unit.
Access to the property by the owner had also been denied by the tenants since May 2017. The illegal occupiers were alleged to be the members of Constable’s organisation, the National Immigrants Council of South Africa (NICSA).
Constable and two men were arrested in December and are in police custody pending a court appearance at the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on January 24.
The city has in a statement dubbed Constable a property hijacking kingpin. This came after a number of properties surfaced in court during Constable’s plea bargain in which he was linked to a number of tenant and landlord disputes.
The city’s mayor, Herman Mashaba, said they were committed to providing quality low-cost affordable housing to residents.
“Building hijackers rob our residents of this quality housing and condemn many to live in inhumane conditions. We cannot allow this to continue any further.”
Also Read:
Hijacked house case hits six months with no rent
No case, says Constables lawyers
BREAKING NEWS: Property alleged kingpin denied bail
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