On budgets, votes, corruption and the future of the golf course

Photo: Unsplash

The sole purpose of Pecanwood Corruption Watch since its establishment on 01 April 2022 was to highlight the corrupt practices of the Homeowners Association and the officials who manage the Estate so that residents are able to put a stop to it.

For almost two decades a select group of residents who are part of the golfing faction on the estate have been playing musical chairs in having themselves elected on to the homeowners association, with a few individuals remaining on the board beyond the term stipulated in the HOA rules. Their repeated mantra has been that they are protecting their investment by ensuring the upkeep and maintenance of the golf course and club house which belong to another legal entity and in which the homeowners association holds no equity.

At the beginning of 2023 residents were informed that there would not be a repeat of the costly golf tournament which was hosted at the beginning of 2022. The explanation provided was unsatisfactory.

Days before the 2022 AGM the golf course manager and his assistant suddenly resigned giving rise to much speculation around possible reasons for their departures. The golf course manager in particular was immensely popular with many golfers and proportionately reviled by others who regarded him as useless, having failed to increase revenue streams from the golf course, club house restaurants and boat club activities. Homeowners levies subsidise the operations of these businesses and the lack of effective management have a direct impact on the pockets of residents.

Today we can reveal that the estate acquired the right to host the 2022 golfing tournament because the golf course manager signed the paper work stating that the estate owned the golf course and the club house. A clear lie as all and sundry know it is owned by the Malaysians. The golf course manager could not have signed the contract without the knowledge of the then chairman and financial director. Ownership of the golf course was a criteria for hosting the tournament. In April 2022 Pecanwood Corruption Watch reported the matter to DP World in the UAE and requested that they investigate the circumstances around the signing.

Not only was the tournament hosted without obtaining permission from the majority of residents to do so, but it incurred a huge financial loss which the HOA recovered through raising special levies.

The above is but one instance of sculduggery that we have investigated with a satisfactory outcome.

We have had numerous requests for assistance from residents in providing them with information to assist in cases that they either wish to lodge with CSOS or to take directly to the High Court. The HOA have consistently over the past decade or so refused residents access to documents which can incriminate the individuals involved in the corruption. The lack of transparency around the financial management of the estate is the biggest grievance of the vast majority of residents. With an estimated turnover in excess of R60 million the secretive HOA has become a hotbed for corruption. Officials with no experience in managing the complexities of an estate with that amount of cash at its disposal are elected through vote buying and downright fraud, whilst leaving the day to day management of the estate to someone equally unqualified and with ambitions to become Africa's first white homegrown dictator.

Last year a group of residents lodged a complaint with CSOS setting out many of the instances that we ourselves have looked at at the request of various residents. The CSOS judgement has been widely circulated on the estate but today we publish both the application and the outcome.

Unbeknown to the majority of Pecanwood homeowners, several residents have over the past couple of years lodged disputes with CSOS, albeit with an unsuccessful outcome. A few have made applications to the High Court and been referred back to CSOS whereupon they became disheartened due to the severe intimidation they faced from the corrupt HOA and golfing faction and have elected not to proceed.

The group complaint is the first successful CSOS application and paves the way for residents to now approach the High court for relief on the matters over which CSOS does not have jurisdiction. The CSOS judgement reiterates that residents must have access to ALL documents of the HOA. This includes and is not limited to financial and accounting records, agreements, minutes of meetings and transcripts or recordings of voice and video meetings. Access to these records will assist residents in formulating future cases. By law the HOA is obliged to keep certain records for specific lengths of time. We await communications from residents who are told records have been lost or are unavailable and will publish each notice on our website.

The CSOS application and unabridged judgement is available on our downloads page.

© Pecanwood Corruption Watch