Malema rents from protégé's dad
2012-04-15 14:38
Johannesburg - Julius Malema is renting the Sandown house that belongs to the father of his new white protégé, Jonathan Ovadia.
The house – which lies behind high dark-grey walls – is situated about a kilometre from his property in the boomed Sandown Estate, where construction work on his new home recently stopped after payment reportedly dried up.
When asked on Saturday to confirm that Malema was renting his house, Eli Ovadia simply said: “It is not your business.”
The ANC Youth League leader didn’t respond to calls or messages on Saturday.
Until now, Malema and 17-year-old Jonathan Ovadia have been reluctant to reveal any details about how they met.
Young Ovadia even threatened City Press with legal action.
Unknown relationship
When Malema introduced Jonathan Ovadia as a white boy he has mentored in “radical politics” at a youth league lecture at the University of the Witwatersrand three weeks ago, not even some of his close associates could say how the two knew each other.
The house Malema is renting from Eli Ovadia is in a boomed, leafy estate in Sandown where properties sell for around the R5 million mark, and where he is likely to be paying rent of about R40 000 a month.
The home is surrounded by high walls with two wooden garage doors. Only one garage was being used, by a black luxury sedan, when City Press visited.
One source said improvements of about R500 000 were made to the home since Malema moved in about two years ago.
He throws regular parties there.
Still being built
Meanwhile, Malema’s Sandown Estate house – currently a three-storey brick-and-plaster skeleton much larger than any of the other homes in the area – is a closed building site.
Beeld reported this week that Malema had failed to settle a bill of more than R400 000 with Kwandisa Construction last month.
Kwandisa Construction’s boards are still up at the entrance and on the three corrugated iron shacks that serve as site offices, but the site has been closed.
When City Press visited nobody was guarding the property.
From the brick structure, however, it is possible to tell it is a plush house in the making.
Plush
There is an underground bunker-like open-plan section with at least one bathroom, which appears to be an entertainment area and television room.
Only one set of stairs leads down to this section, but there is a lift shaft that reaches across the three floors.
The ground floor has what looks like a garage, a reception area, an open-plan living area, and possibly a kitchen, while the top floor – with only one set of stairs leading up to it – has what appears to be five bedrooms.
