‘Too-good-to-be-true’ Jozi housing project shut down by city

A huge, illegal housing development on the border of Randfontein and Soweto boast rows of half-built homes after the City of Johannesburg moved in and halted construction.

Potential homeowner Boipelo Mashaba knew from the start the new South Jozi Homes project was “too good to be true”. Mashaba said she was told about it by a friend who was also interested in buying a home there.

On their website, the developers promised rent-to-buy options for homes starting at R150,000, capped at R900,000. They also offered incentives for people who referred prospective buyers.

Filled with excitement at the possibility of being a first-time homeowner, Mashaba said she decided in July to give the agents a try.

She said she and her partner picked the agent up in Soweto and made their way to the site.

“When we got there we just saw houses. At the site there was no running water or pipes. There was not even a sign to say they were digging pipes for sewerage works,” she said.

They were told the houses were R20,000, a one-off payment, Mashaba said.

“She [the agent] said all we had to do was fill in the paper work, pay R20,000 and give five referrals, and those referrals must also buy into the project, then the house would be ours. We then asked her how we got the title deed and she said after paying [purchasers] got an affidavit from the police station and a title deed. They showed us some copies, but it didn’t make sense.

“We had been looking into buying a house for quite some time, but finances were not on our side.

“When we heard there were affordable house we were pretty excited, but that was until we went to view and were told their prices. Once I heard the price I knew this was too good to be true. I got suspicious and asked a lot of questions,” Mashaba said.

She said the agent told them the home would only be ready by December.

“We were more interested in the referrals thing. When we asked if they would take our house away from us if we referred people and they didn’t buy into the project, they [the agents] got defensive.

“She told us [the project] was valid and that someone had bought five houses. We raised concerns about the cheapness of the homes and she said if we were not interested we must leave it.

“I told my partner we should not buy and I am very happy we didn’t. We really dodged a bullet,” Mashaba said.

On December 3, City of Johannesburg MMC for development planning Thapelo Amad and his team visited the site after the developers ignored two contravention notices.

The first was issued on June 17 and the second on November 25.

Despite the latter notice, the developers continued building, Amad said, adding that the housing project was built without council approval.

According to Amad, there were more than 80 standing structures and 100 foundation-phase homes on site. 

“The land where this project is being constructed is considered to be dolomitic and is only suitable for agricultural purposes, with one dwelling house, as opposed to the 300 they were planning to build.”

He said building materials and equipment had been confiscated.

Building control officer for the city’s department of planning Maruping Chiloane said the city was made aware of the illegal building project in June, during lockdown level 3.

“There is no township establishment, no approved building plans and no written authorisation from the city, hence the issuance of a contravention notice for the cessation of all construction activities.”

Chiloane said it was not unique for transgressors to continue building, in spite of being served with contravention notices.

“Additionally, the location of the property also worked to their advantage because of the rotation of staff and, therefore, lack of capacity the department incurred during the lockdown period.”

Chiloane said the city was approaching the courts and looking at its bylaws for “necessary relief”.

South Jozi Homes declined to comment, other than to say: “Unfortunately we would like to give you the full information, but we can’t give you any information regarding our projects. We have started with legal action.”

When asked who it was taking legal action against, the response was: “No comment.”