Gauteng to sell all properties owned by government

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Pretoria - Gauteng Premier David Makhura says the provincial government will sell all the properties it owns, including the Premier’s official residence.

Premier Makhura made this announcement while responding to written questions at the Gauteng Provincial Legislature on Tuesday.  

In March this year, the Premier made a commitment to the legislature that the future of the official residence would be considered once the Department of Infrastructure Development had done an audit of all assets, including non-core assets of the Gauteng Provincial Government.

“The asset register and valuation of all government fixed property has now been completed. The majority of these properties are occupied by public servants. Thirty-one properties will be disposed at the first online auction to take place towards the end of October 2016,” said the provincial government in a statement.

Premier Makhura said he was confident that this decision will not only save the provincial government money from maintenance but it will help raise additional resources to fund the provincial government’s programme of transformation, modernisation and re-industrialisation (TMR) priorities such as student bursaries and the youth employment programme, Tshepo 500 000.

“We will only keep the property portfolio and land assets which add value to service delivery, infrastructure development and our overall agenda TMR,” said Premier Makhura.

Installing electricity at informal settlements

On the question of installing electricity at Winnie Mandela Informal Settlement, Premier Makhura said the electrification of informal settlements is a priority programme in all municipalities in Gauteng.

The Departments of Human Settlements and Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) are providing the necessary support by ensuring that the relevant national government departments and State-owned enterprises are drawn in.

Premier Makhura said municipalities are responsible for identifying the areas and undertaking planning for the electrification programme. He said where Eskom is responsible for the supply of electricity, the municipality works with Eskom to plan the rollout.

“Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality prioritised Winnie Mandela Informal Settlement for the provision of electricity as part of creating liveable settlements under the Informal Settlement Re-blocking Programme,” he said. – SAnews.gov.za