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Rooting out corruption in property sector

Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi has called on property sector representatives and members of the public to work with government to expose corruption.

“It is in all our interests to stamp out this culture of corruption, a practice which has brought this country to the brink of disaster,” the Minister said.

Speaking at the launch of the Expedited Lease Renewal Process recently, Minister Nxesi acknowledged that poor governance and controls have led to much of the chaos in the leasing environment. He emphasised that government is committed to rooting out corruption, professionalising the organs of government to strengthen service delivery, generating investment and job creation, and driving real socio-economic transformation in the interests of all people.

“We are also putting in place a procurement regime which is transparent to deal with corruption. Our economic circumstances as a country, as well as pressure from National Treasury, dictate that we fight corruption and state capture, which has been a massive drain on public funds.

“At the same time, we have to improve the way we do business to contain costs and generate income.”

Minister Nxesi said the new direction given by President Cyril Ramaphosa is a clear instruction that it cannot be business as usual.

“The President has called for renewed efforts towards real socioeconomic transformation in the interests of all our people.

“When I announced that we would be putting out suitable properties to tender, this is not an invitation to ‘radical economic looting ’, whereby a few politically connected syndicate s receive contracts in return for providing minimal service.

“We are targeting emerging entrepreneurs who offer a real value proposition and tangible benefits to government,” the Minister said.