Big Five Lodge to be auctioned

BAME PIET
ISAIAH MOREWAGAE
BABOKI KAYAWE
Staff Writers | Thursday April 26, 2012 00:00

 

Almost all the facility's assets are to be sold off to raise over P760,000 that its owners, Mon Group Pty Ltd and its managing director Ivica Puskas owe to PG Timbers.

The sale follows an order by High Court Judge Leatile Dambe in which PG Timbers had sued the company over a debt of P765,737. Properties to be sold include a power generator, a reception desk, 87 television sets, 97 beds, 97 headboards, 70 dressing tables, 29 chairs, 28 television stands, 27 floor mats, six computer sets, a Carravella Combi, a bar fridge, two kitchen fridges, a chest of drawers, decorations and crafts, industrial stoves and various stock in trade.

Deputy Sheriff Joseph Kokeletso will sell the properties to the highest bidder. Meanwhile, reports reaching Mmegi say the Ministry of Education (MoE) surreptitiously tried to rescue the Mon Group from its financial troubles by hosting a huge regional education conference at its incomplete Majestic Five Lodge in Palapye. The over 500 conference participants had to go queue up for toilets and negotiate their way through corridors full of building materials and masonry.  The situation turned ungainly when the men's toilets could not cope with the volume of users, forcing the men to share the women's facilities.

Even Minister Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi had to queue up for the restrooms in what was seen as her ministry's last ditch efforts to save the company from going under. One of the ministry's officials characterised spending the night at the lodge as 'a bad experience'. Contacted for comment, the ministry's principal public relations officer, Oarabile Phefo, said the conference was held at Majestic Five because it was the only facility that could accommodate such numbers in the central region. 'We are happy about their service, despite the fact that the facility is still under construction, and there were just minor hiccups,' Phefo said.

He denied that the men's toilets had failed to function, saying they could not handle the population. However, a security officer who preferred anonymity told Mmegi that the facility was always experiencing problems whenever there was a huge booking.

In October 2010, Mmegi went to Palapye to investigate allegations of corruption regarding the plot. The issue involved the family of the deceased owners who accused Puskas of terrorising them.

Puskas had allegedly sent deputy sheriffs to impound the property of Matshamekwane Ngwaga immediately after Ngwaga's death in 2009 on the grounds that he owed him money.  The family also alleged that the deputy sheriffs had taken everything while Ngwaga's wife was ill and bedridden. In a heartless operation, the deputy sheriffs went for the house of the Ngwagas' orphaned children after their mother also died. The police would not divulge any information, saying the matter was sensitive and not for public consumption.

Nevertheless, information reaching Mmegi is that Ngwaga and Puskas were in a business partnership that led to a land transaction and subsequent construction of the lodge on the land. A reliable source close to the controversial property and the transactions between the parties involved says three-year investigations into the acquisition of the plot on which the lodge was built have turned up shocking findings. 

Puskas' lawyer, Kerobile Ditlhobolo of Matlala Attorneys, would not shed any light on the latest development regarding his client. 'No comment,' Ditlhobolo said tersely. 'I do not want to comment on anything that involves newspapers.'

Business as usualHowever, it was business as usual at the Big Five Lodge in Mogoditshane this week, despite the impending auction. The lodge was still accepting bookings yesterday afternoon.