Public Works to investigate mismanagement of police headquarters

One of the bathrooms at the building used by SAPS at the Telkom Tower complex in Pretoria. Photo supplied

The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure has launched an internal investigation into the mismanagement of the Telkom Towers complex, the headquarters of the South African Police Service (SAPS), as well as other properties owned by the department in Pretoria’s city centre.

This was revealed by the newly appointed head of the Property Management Trading Entity, Siza Sibande. He was briefing MPs on Parliament’s Portfolio Committee for Public Works and Infrastructure on Tuesday.

The briefing comes on the back of the bungle at the SAPS headquarters at the Telkom Towers complex in Pretoria last week. Staff were evacuated and the building being used by the police was declared uninhabitable. The closure followed an inspection by labour department officials, police management and the Solidarity trade union a week ago.

The Auditor-General’s office reporting in Parliament last week, said that only one of the nine buildings in the complex had ever been used by SAPS. The remaining vacant buildings have cost the government at least R592-million. This was found to be a material irregularity in the report to Parliament.

On Tuesday, political heads of the department including Minister Sihle Zikalala, Deputy Minister Bernice Swarts and newly appointed Director-General Sifiso Mdakane joined Sibande to brief MPs.

Sibande confirmed that Zikalala met Minister of Police Bheki Cele to discuss the Telkom Towers matter. “We asked for an investigation into what happened (with those and other properties) including the Telkom Towers issue,” he said.

He said that the ministers agreed to an investigation “to avoid a repeat of the same mistakes”. Sibande also told MPs that they are in talks with the Auditor-General to deal with issues raised in its report.

“We are engaging with SAPS around their accommodation needs after having to leave the Telkom Towers building,” he said.

During his presentation, Sibande said that they were still assessing the conditions at various buildings across the country. “The whole process has restarted now. The Department of Labour is currently visiting all buildings. The trade unions have also raised issues around the conditions of our buildings. We are engaging with them,” he added.

The immovable asset portfolio, under the department’s custodianship, lists about 29,955 parcels of land which equates to an estimated 4.7-million hectares. This includes more than 88,000 buildings.

On Pretoria’s inner city, Sibande said: “If you look at the total portfolio footprint, Telkom Towers alone has about 102,000 square metres of unutilised space. If you refurbish and optimise them, the face of Pretoria will change.”

“It’s unfortunate such a beautiful asset has been left in that kind of state … We are improving security around those properties. We believe that we will see a turnaround,” Sibande told MPs.

Deputy Minister Swarts remarked how Sibande taking up his post just recently was “walking into a blazing fire because of all the [previous] instability”.

Police top brass are expected to brief Parliament tomorrow.

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