The Gauteng government bought a Midvaal farm for more than 10 times the price it was sold for only a few years before. The R70m transaction was a windfall for the middleman, property tycoon Rali Mampeule, whose company was paid out R44m in ‘commission’ on the deal. Now the police are investigat.
The Gauteng government paid R70 million for a Midvaal farm that had been bought for less than a tenth of that price a few years prior, with a massive commission paid out.
CONTINUING now with our look at lost pubs and taking a rest from documenting ancient murders, although there is another next week. This week we start with the large post-war pubs that served the towns well but have now gone. We begin with the earliest, the Beech Tree at Barnton that was initially on the other side of Runcorn Road, that will be on the left when heading for Bartington. This pub had traded from 1871 to 1939. During the last century, it was called the Beech Tavern for a while. As a foretaste of things to come, Private Samuel Martin, the son of the licensee Sarah Martin was killed in Iraq on Sunday, April 9, 1916. His body lies in the British Cemetery in Basra to this day.