Gauteng metros are facing a resurgence of land invasions and social scammers who sell government flats and RDP homes for as little as R15,000.
The scammers operating on the West Rand also charge people R2,500 to jump the long list of housing beneficiaries and then disappear with their money.
Joburg human settlements MMC Mlungisi Mabaso had to open a case of identity theft after unknown people started using his work-related pictures and videos to create fake social media accounts with Mabaso's face to lure potential victims. Sowetan has seen several Facebook and TikTok accounts advertising Lufhereng Flats with units being sold for between R15,000 and R25,000.
The adverts state that the department is looking for people who applied for RDP houses between 1996 and 2019 to contact cellphone numbers listed on the advert. Three people were arrested in February for fraud and for impersonating Mabaso.
The Truecaller app listed the two cellphone numbers as belonging to a “Hamfrey RDP House” and “Joel Mabaso”. Sowetan contacted both numbers. “Joel Mabaso” did not answer the call. When Sowetan contacted 'Hamfrey' to inquire about buying a house in Lufhereng, we got the following voice message: “Thank you for your message. We're unavailable right now but will respond as soon as possible.”
He didn't reply to follow-up texts.
The scam extends to other areas such as Savanna City in the south of Joburg, Spruitview, Palmridge, Sky City, Kaalfontein and Fleurhof.
Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni officials told Sowetan that the situation has become so bad that they get complaints every day.
Mabaso described the situation as “mess”.
“We are dealing with syndicates that are well organised. There are those who sell houses promising to help people jump the queue and charge them money for this.
“On the other side we have an issue of land invasion where people sell stands and illegally allocate [these stands to] people. The land sales are done behind closed doors. They don’t do studies on the land to see if it is good for habitation. They sell land that is not suitable for development. People who buy the land will only learn on the day of allocation when the scammers do not answer the phone,” Mabaso said.
One of those who responded to the post is Ntombizodwa Bembe from Naledi.
The mother of two, who is in possession of a 1998 RDP receipt form, followed up on the details shown on the Facebook post. She said that she only became suspicious when the fraudster told her about a R2,500 “cooldrink fee”, which she was asked to deposit via Shoprite money transfer in separate payments.
“I wanted to give him the required amount face-to-face because I was not willing to let go of the little money I have. We agreed to meet near Baragwanath Hospital but the man never showed up. He no longer replies to my messages or phone calls,” said Bembe.
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Mabaso said he knows about the scam.
“We have opened cases with the police in relation to these fake accounts. We hope the police will soon bring these perpetrators to book. RDP housing units are for free.
“The expectation from us is that people who are allocated to RDP houses are people that don’t have money to buy or build homes for themselves. We don’t charge a single cent to do allocations,” said Mabaso.
Some people who spoke to Sowetan said they were interested in the deals but did not make any payments as the scammer disappeared when they wanted to meet in person.
Ekurhuleni spokesperson Zweli Dlamini said the situation was just as bad.
“Housing scams are also giving the city problems. We have had such scams where people have been duped by fraudsters, obviously without rigging the list but taking the money. We have warned people against such characters and illegal activities but some still fall prey,” Dlamini said.
He said land invasions were also a daily occurrence that has forced the city to introduce a land invasion unit within the metro police department.
Tokolli Sedibe, Thuli Katjedi and Ronny Magabe are due to appear at the Hillbrow magistrate’s court in September on charges of fraud and impersonating Mabaso. The trio are currently out on bail.
The City of Johannesburg will hold a media briefing on Thursday to give an update on police investigations focusing on social fake media accounts created under the MMC’s name.
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