Helen Botes faces legal challenges after her exit from Johannesburg Property Company
Former Johannesburg Property Company (JPC) chief executive Helen Botes’ troubles are piling up after her employer confirmed her exit, and the DA is insisting she must still face criminal charges or civil litigation.
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) recently filed a Gauteng High Court application in Johannesburg to have her declared a delinquent director, which would bar her from being a director of any company in the country in terms of the Companies Act.
Outa has told the court that Botes failed to comply with and implement constitutional principles and other statutory requirements and grossly abused her position as JPC director, including gross negligence, wilful misconduct, breach of trust, and taking advantage of information or opportunities in managing and administering the municipal entity.
The organisation said Botes was responsible for managing the Usindiso Building, in which 76 people perished in a fire in August 2023.
Botes, according to Outa, failed to exercise control over the building and its occupants as required by law and did not collect any rental or institute legal proceedings to recover arrears of rentals or damages.
Additionally, between October 2016 and August 2023, when the fire broke out, there was no lease agreement between the JPC and the illegal occupants.
According to Outa, there were no firefighting installations in the building, no comprehensive record of firefighting equipment and service installations at the premises was kept as required by the City of Johannesburg’s emergency by-laws.
Usindiso was also used as a dumping site for waste, which exacerbated the fire; it was overcrowded, had illegal electricity connections, as well as live, uncovered electrical wires, and children as young as 15 were abused and trafficked as prostitutes, among others.
The commission of inquiry headed by retired Constitutional Court Justice Sisi Khampepe to look into the Usindiso tragedy recommended that the JPC’s board take appropriate action against Botes for the total disregard of managing the building despite knowledge of its disastrous state since at least 2019.
Outa also cites what it describes as the purported appointment of service providers to undertake deep cleaning and sanitising services for the JPC during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
The procurement of the services was fundamentally flawed as it did not comply with the constitutional and other legal requirements, and the four appointed companies were paid more than R18 million for services despite either failing to deliver or not being able to provide the services.
Botes appointed the companies while aware that they were inexperienced and were awarded the contracts at excessive prices.
A subsequent Special Investigating Unit (SIU) probe recommended disciplinary action against her for financial misconduct and made a criminal referral against her.
The DA has also laid criminal charges against Botes and senior JPC officials for violations of the Municipal Finance Management Act following the SIU’s damning findings and a culpable homicide case for the totally preventable loss of lives in the Usindiso Building fire.
“Botes’ exit from the city does not absolve her of responsibility, nor should it shield her from criminal or civil accountability. Johannesburg residents deserve justice, and we will continue to fight for it in council, in the courts, and in every available forum,” the party said.
Botes did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.
loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za