Johannesburg's Metro Centre was abandoned last year in favour of leasing expensive private offices from an ANC cadre and property mogul, who did not pay his utilities bill on time.

Listen to this article 10 min Listen to this article 10 min In September, Joburg mayor Dada Morero's office had its electricity and water cut off by his own City when an ANC property cadre and city landlord did not pay his utilities bill on time.

Without council approval, the Metro Centre, the City's service centre, was abandoned in spurious circumstances, and the mayor moved to a private building in Braamfontein owned by Bayete Capital, the company of Lonwabo Sambudla, an ANC-aligned property mogul.

When he tried to refinance the building, along with two other properties in which the council leases office space, Sambudla did not pay his bills and racked up debt of R22.1-million, according to a City document in possession of the Daily Maverick. The City is deep in the red and is on an enhanced debt collection drive to lower a deficit of R4-billion a month, as declared by Morero last year. Finances have gotten worse since.

Bayete paid most of the debt after the cut-offs, but the incident revealed how private property deals corrode the City and soak up money the mayor should plough into services such as water supply.

Officials and other sources told the...