Hawthorndene: Haunted by phantom buyers?

GEORGE NEWS - The George Municipality is going to force the hand of Mohamed Patel, the liquidator who was appointed by the High Court to oversee the sale of the doomed Hawthorndene Hotel.

For several years Patel has claimed to have a buyer for the hotel, but every time he is pressed for details, he says he is just waiting for the party or parties to honour the purchase agreement obligations.

The ill-fated hotel began its journey into adversity and decay following the liquidation of Pluscor in early December 2007. Since then the hotel has been stripped and systematically vandalised.

When asked about rumours about a possible high-profile buyer, Chantel Edwards-Klose George municipality spokesperson said Patel confirmed to the municipality's attorneys that the property was sold.

"Mr Patel was requested to forward a copy of the sales agreement to the attorneys, but to date, nothing has been received. As none of the previous sales was concluded successfully, it is crucial for the municipality to ascertain whether the sale is indeed a valid sale. The Master of the High Court was therefore approached to intervene and to force Mr Patel to make the information available."

Since August 2016 George municipality has been threatening to bring an application in the High Court to remove Patel as liquidator.

On 11 October 2016, Edwards-Klose stated: "The municipality has briefed an advocate with initial instructions to make application to the High Court for the removal of the currently appointed liquidator of the Hawthornedene hotel.

This is purely because the municipality is of the opinion that the appointed liquidator is not acting in the best interest of all affected parties to finalise the matter.

"The municipality has knowledge of two offers of similar value to purchase the hotel, both dated October 2016. The offered purchase price would be sufficient to pay the outstanding municipal debt. The process to remove the liquidator will be held back to give him the opportunity to accept either of these offers."

Arrears

The outstanding rates and taxes bills are said to be over R3 million and Edwards-Close says the municipality has a constitutional duty to collect arrears. "The municipality is not a party to the agreement between the prospective purchasers and the liquidator, but will support any viable effort to bring an end to the problem and uplift the area."

Back in April 2014, municipal manager Trevor Botha called the situation "sensitive". He said the municipality did not want to jeopardise or impede the sale.

"Council is obliged to resolve the matter. The longer it takes, the higher the cost will be to resolve the impasse." Since then not much has changed other than that Patel's legal standing as an attorney was briefly discussed during a George council meeting on Wednesday 28 September.

At the meeting, George mayor Melvin Naik asked for a complete report for discussion at the next meeting. He asked council to explain its involvement in the sale and queried the status of the liquidator, saying: "Mohamed Patel of the Cape Town legal firm, Patel and Totos Attorneys, has been involved in the sale for almost four years."

Council's legal adviser, Johan van Schalkwyk, said Patel confirmed in July that there had been an offer to purchase the hotel, but that nothing has come of it. He added that the appointment of a new liquidator has been discussed. Van Schalkwyk told council: "The liquidator is playing games with us."

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ARTICLE & PHOTO: PAULINE LOURENS, GEORGE HERALD JOURNALIST

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