TMG Digital reports that two City of Johannesburg housing officials along with two accomplices have been arrested on charges of fraud and corruption linked to a syndicate involving land and RDP houses.  

They have appeared in court and were released on R5‚000 bail each, with the case postponed to 11 April 2017.  Mayor Herman Mashaba indicated:  “A syndicate working in collusion with the Department of Housing‚ municipal officials and a councillor started allocating stands to people at a fee wherein unsuspecting individuals bought the said stands.  A similar modus operandi applied to the allocation of RDP houses.”  Many of the victims have already constructed houses on illegally sold land.  The syndicate’s main target were people who did not qualify for home loans or earned a salary that was outside the bracket of eligible beneficiaries.  Mashaba added that a number of further arrests could be expected in the near future.

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