Former ANC Nelson Mandela Bay regional secretary, Zandisile Qupe, has to pay back R1.28 million to National Treasury in six months or he will lose his Theescombe home.
This is after the High Court in Gqeberha granted an application to the Asset Forfeiture Unit on Friday to seize the property as part of a preservation order granted last November.
Qupe and his former wife, Nokuzola, were also dealt another blow when the court ordered that they pay the costs of the court application.
He is one of 14 people facing a string of charges of fraud, money laundering and corruption amounting to R56.4m relating to the City's failed integrated public transport system.
According to the Asset Forfeiture Unit, the house was obtained through alleged underhanded dealings and that part of this money was used to pay for the multi-million rand Theescombe property.
Court papers indicated that Nokuzola Qupe had contributed R1m towards the purchase of the home which was obtained in a legitimate manner. But, according to the AFU's senior counsel, advocate Warren Myburgh, this was done to give the transaction a facade of legitimacy.
In his judgement, Judge J Potgieter said that the IPTS project became a target of a syndicate for unlawfully extracting funds for the benefit of its members and their associates.
"The modus operandi was that strategically placed officials of the Municipality irregularly awarded lucrative contracts connected to the IPTS projects, in contravention of the applicable supply chain processes, to identified service providers who were part of the syndicate,".
Judge Potgieter said that substantial, overinflated payments were made to these service providers and large sums of money were misappropriated in the process.
Qupe allegedly benefitted almost R3m from one of the accused Fareed Fakir, said to be a member and funder of the ANC in the Eastern Cape.
According to court papers, Qupe met Fakir during his term in office and according to him he received ex gratia payments and these were terminated when he vacated his position as the governing party's regional secretary.
Qupe and his co-accused are expected to stand trial in January next year.
