Shockingly, but not suprisingly, complaints against ANC Cllr Naeem Patel continue to flow in, with more and more residents saying that they do not trust him and believe that he is very corrupt, like many of the ANC members in Government.
The residents say that they believe Naeem is hoodwinking the community, by showing selected support for the Palestinian cause, in order to gain the support of the mainly Muslim community, in order to cover up for his ‘dirty tricks’ as Councillor.
This follows, once more, damning accusations against Patel, this time by a local couple, who accused Patel of blackmail, threats and abusing his authority by tampering with utility accounts of the Tshwane Council.
Bilaal Ismail Alli and his wife Mariam of 42nd Avenue, Laudium, alleged that Naeem Patel cheated on an agreement and used false information from the Council Revenue Department to back-up his false stories and that Naeem furthermore was believed to be instrumental in persuading a conveyancing attorney and a local estate agent, to act unethically against their respective code of conduct.
authority.
This followed Bilaal making an offer, through a local property agent Faryal Seedat of Fair Properties, to purchase a home on Sesmylspruit in Erasmia, on June 26, belonging to Mogamat Alvie, with a condition that he was able to sell his current home on 42nd Ave, Laudium within 60 days. Bilaal and Mariam engaged estate agent Zainub Sathaar of Zee Prop Real Estate Services to market their Laudium home and gave her all the details of the house that they made an offer for, in Erasmia. According to the couple, Naeem Patel showed interest in purchasing their house and after inspecting it, signed an offer to purchase (OTP) their home on 42nd Ave, Laudium, on July 4, which offer was accepted by Bilaal.
Mariam told the Laudium Sun, “Naeem was very eager to buy our home and when we told him that the house could have been altered from the original plans, he told us that he was not worried about that as half of Laudium houses did not have proper plans. The offer was however subject to Naeem obtaining a bank loan from his bank, for the full purchase of the property.”
Mariam added, “We were surprised when a few days later, we were informed that Nedbank had approved the loan for Naeem to buy our house, despite us still waiting for the valuators from the bank to come and inspect our house, before approving the loan for Naeem. Nevertheless, as suspicious as it may be, it was all systems ready for both transfers to take place, simultaneously.”
Although it is normal practice that the seller appoints the conveyancer to deal with the transfer of the property, Mariam told the Laudium Sun that Naeem asked Bilaal to allow his daughter Mahdiyyah Patel, an attorney to deal with the transfer so that he could save some money on fees. Bilaal obliged and as Mahdiyyah is not a conveyancing attorney, she is believed to have instructed Shaakira Yacoob, to commence with the transfer of the property. At the same time Bilaal had asked Mogamet, the seller of the Erasmia property, if he could appoint his own conveyancer which the seller agreed to. Thus Bilaal appointed Yusuf (Joe) Patel to commence the transfer of the Erasmia house into his name. Bilaal and his wife Mariam believed that it was all system go for their house in Laudium to be sold to Naeem and the couple were looking forward to soon moving into their new house in Erasmia, as according to Mariam, Shaakira had also, on July 29, collected the original title deed from them. Mariam added, “Attorney Joe Patel’s office sent an email to the parties on July 30, confirming that the seller and purchaser (for the Erasmia house) signed the transfer documents and a SARS transfer duty receipt was received, but that they were now awaiting the bond guarantee (from Naeem). Shakeera, on behalf of Naeem, also confirmed that both parties had signed the transfer documents (for the Laudium house) and that she was awaiting the bond confirmation from JJR INK on behalf of Nedbank. Shaakira however stated that she was having a problem in obtaining a rates clearance certificate from the Tshwane Council and that she would be appointing an agent to assist in this regard.”
heartbroken and very disappointed with both Naeem and Zainub.”
SHOCK OR THREAT?
Mariam added, “About 15 minutes after receiving the mail from Shaakira, I received a call from Cllr Patel stating that there was a big investigation on our property as we had apparently tampered with our prepaid electricity meter and water meter. Naeem then threatened and told me that we will have to pay a R400,000 bill and possible disconnection. He further stated that our property was under investigation for electricity and water meter tampering and that we could not sell our property until the investigation is complete, which could take years to complete. He then said that I could confirm whatever he was saying by talking to a certain Rubeena at the Laudium Council office. I was shocked because as far as we were concerned our utility accounts were paid up to date and we had never tampered with any of the meters. I then went a day or two later to the Council offices in Laudium to find out why there was a problem with our utility account. Rubeena was not there at the time, perhaps fortunately so, but another person helped me. She told me that there were no arrears or problems on our account and that in fact, our account was approved for clearance which we could get from the Centurion office. I then called Shaakira to tell her that the Council said that there was no problem with our account, she just said that she will then apply for a clearance certificate. Not long thereafter Naeem called me and I asked him why he made the false accusations concerning the alleged tampering of the meters and said that our property was being investigated by the Council. He seemed to be irritated that I spoke to someone else at the Council office and not with Rubeena and then abruptly told me that he is not interested in buying our house anymore, then cut the call. We then learnt that our estate agent Zainub, who was aware of the details of the offer we made for the home in Erasmia had, together with Cllr Patel, made a slightly higher offer to the owner, Alvie and apparently informed him that the offer we made to him was not applicable, because we cannot sell our house due to the investigation by the Council. So, the owner accepted their offer. This was blatant deceit on the part of both Cllr Patel and the estate agent Zainub Sathaar. We believe that Cllr Patel unlawfully cancelled the sale and maliciously spread rumours that we had tampered with the water and electricity meters and that our property was under investigation by the Tshwane Council, just so that he could get out of the agreement and buy the house in Erasmia, which we had made an offer for. We also believe that his chosen attorney, Shaakira Yacoob, already had the clearance figures in hand, or alternatively knew that there was no problem in obtaining the clearance certificate, but withheld such information, to mislead us, neatly slotting herself into Cllr Patel’s scheme. The plot thickened when it emerged that Patel had been quietly bidding on the property in Erasmia facilitated by Zainub Sathaar, the very same property that we had signed to purchase in June. We believe that both Cllr Patel and our agent, Zainub Sathaar, acted unethically and were dishonest in their dealing with us. It is heartbreaking for us to see someone like Naeem, who often preaches on religion and who so many of our local people trust, through our experience with him, found that he is not as innocent as he pretends to be and that he is vindictive and manipulative. We are deeply heartbroken and very disappointed that both Naeem and Zainub, who we not only trusted, but who we opened our home to, chose to lie and threaten us. Their actions have caused us unnecessary hurt and distress and worst of all, have shattered our dreams of buying a new home.”
Attempts to get a comment from Cllr Patel were unsuccessful, but the Laudium Sun understands that Patel told a few people that the reason why he was being ‘attacked’ by the Laudium Sun, was because certain people associated with the paper had asked him, in their personal capacity to assist in some ‘illegal’ transaction for their personal benefit which he apparently refused. The Laudium Sun challenges Patel to give full details of the alleged ‘illegal’ request with proof, or rather still report such allegations to the police for further investigation. Patel has been hoodwinking the community for too long now, especially under the disguise of religion, more so on the Palestinian issue. It is time that his unscrupulous behavior, more so as a Councillor be exposed.
Zainub Sathaar refused to comment on this matter. However a letter from her attorney, basically threatening the Laudium Sun not to write anything about Zainub or her company that would damage her reputation, is obviously treated with the contempt it deserves. We will not be bullied by anyone in exposing allegations of wrong doing. Thus, we challenge Zainub to take legal action against the publishing of this article. We will also forward this article to the Estate Agents Board, to investigate the conduct of Zainub Sathaar. Meanwhile, Billal and his wife Mariam, have approached flamboyant attorney Kaneil Muthray to take the necessary legal action for justice to be served.
Conveyancing attorney, Shaakira Yacoob, told the Laudium Sun, “However, seeing as this is a pending legal matter, I believe we should allow the law to run its course so as not to jeopardise the rights and interests of the parties involved. I have no further comment in this regard.”
At the time of going to press, Mariam told the Laudium Sun that officials from the Tshwane Council came to her yard, demanding to inspect her pre-paid meter unit.