Gauteng to sell brick empire
The Gauteng government is preparing to sell all of its residential properties - including the premier's official residence - in a vast portfolio that may include as many as 29,000 properties. State employees occupying houses belonging to the province were found to be paying below market-related rent of between R900 and R1,500 a month, excluding services.The sale will include the premier's official residence in Bryanston, which the DA's Jack Bloom claims cost the Gauteng government R1.5-million a year to run and maintain.The first batch of 31 houses will be sold via an online auction at the end of next month.The properties represented loss-incurring chapters for successive Gauteng governments.At one point a deputy director in the department of community safety lived in a state-owned house in Pretoria for 18 years and paid only R900 a month for rent.Other properties have been vandalised or hijacked, and some allegedly sold to third parties. Most of the tenants are traffic officers and other public -sector officials.City of Ekurhuleni councillors have previously told the Gauteng legislature's portfolio committee on infrastructure development that the properties were being used for prostitution, drug trafficking and for housing illegal immigrants.Premier David Makhura said yesterday "the asset register and valuation of all government fixed property has now been completed".The department of infrastructure development was forced to admit in May 2013 that it could account for only 9800 of the 29000 buildings in the provincial government's property portfolio.A consortium led by Ernst & Young was tasked by the department to conduct an audit of properties owned by the provincial government.The properties include schools, commercial premises, houses, rooms and flats in areas such as Bryanston, Tulisa Park, Boksburg, Benoni, Springs, Alberton, Heidelberg, Vereeniging, Meyerton, Westonaria, Krugersdorp and Rooihuiskraal."We are confident that this decision will not only save us money from maintenance, but it will also help raise additional resources to fund priorities such as student bursaries," said Makhura...
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