GROUNDUP: UJ official must pay back R18m over student housing bribes

Labour Court finds Andries Helani accepted more than R3.2-million in payments linked to private student accommodation providers.

An axed senior director of student affairs at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) has been ordered to repay more than R18-million to the institution for corrupt and fraudulent contracts for private student accommodation.

This may be the first case of its kind, where an employee is held to account for fraud and corruption under the Basic Conditions of Employment Act’s contractual provisions.

UJ claimed that Andries Helani, then head of student affairs, had never declared any conflicts of interest.

Judge Reynaud Daniels of the Johannesburg Labour Court delivered judgment on Friday.

Helani was employed as the head of student affairs from January 2017 until he was dismissed in March 2024. He managed and oversaw the accreditation of privately owned student accommodation funded by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).

He was obliged to declare any actual or potential conflicts of interest annually.

In 2021, Helani deviated from the usual accreditation process. Instead of the student affairs department running the process, private property owners were subjected to a tender process. However, as subsequent investigations found, Helani still maintained control over the entire process.

In November that year, Mahlatse Investments applied for the accreditation of two properties in Jorissen Street and Bertha Street, both in Braamfontein. The tender committee was told that, in January 2022, the two properties were inspected by student affairs, occupational health and safety and protection services and property management. The committee ultimately accredited the properties.

The Jorissen Street property was to host 748 beds and the Bertha Street property 693.

UJ’s payment merchant, Fundi Capital (Pty) Ltd, was authorised to enter into agreements with Mahlatsi Properties, whose directors were Siphiwe Khoza and Stanley Nkele. Nkele was also a director of Mahlatse Investments.

Mahlatsi Properties was paid just more than R17-million for 1,441 beds over eight months.

Following an initial investigation by Nexia SAB&T into the 2022 accreditation process, it emerged that the two properties had less than half of the promised beds.

In November, students demonstrated over the lack of accommodation and other failed promises by the landlord.