Dead person's signature used to transfer City of Johannesburg property

JOHANNESBURG, GAUTENG— The forged signature of a deceased municipal worker has emerged as the central evidence in a high court case over stolen Johannesburg public land. Sthembiso Zwelibanzi Mntungwa passed away in December 2020, yet legal documents filed in the Johannesburg high court show he supposedly authorized a power of attorney in January 2025 to hand over city real estate.

According to Sowetan, the City of Johannesburg, whose infrastructure failures were slammed ahead of the State of the City Address, uncovered a syndicate that completely bypassed official local government channels to transfer at least 16 public properties to private businesses and buyers for zero compensation. Tshepo Mokatakata, the head of legal services at the Joburg Property Company (JPC), stated in his founding affidavit that council approval and strict treasury reports are legally required before any asset disposal.

Syndicate fakes dead man's sign-off

Mokatakata said that council had originally earmarked 32 parcels of land for development back in 2014, priced at R91,000 each. He said that fraudsters hijacked the process, pushing through illicit transfers in 2018 and one in 2025 for R800,000 before legitimate deals could close.

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The JPC said it detected the theft through internal whistleblowers last year and filed criminal charges this year. The city said a Tshwane-based law firm also flagged the scam after discovering its own corporate identity was stolen to facilitate 23 illegal transfers and five title deed applications. The municipality is now demanding an immediate high court order to strip the current private owners of their registrations and return the land to the public.

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Similarly, Briefly News reported that the Provincial Government revealed that a staggering explosion of informal settlement resulted in almost one million shacks populating the province. This is a sharp rise from over a decade ago.

Source: Briefly News