Public Works audit kudos

THE Department of Public Works, for years the black sheep of the government, has turned the corner with an unqualified audit report this year.

A buoyant Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi also announced that the department now paid 98% of invoices within 30 days, and that the register of immovable assets, long a headache, was now 99.1% complete.

The register includes national government-owned property.

Nxesi did say, however, that the state was not yet sure whether provinces and municipalities were completely sure of all their immovable assets.

Regarding his department’s R6.4-billion budget for this year, Nxesi placed the focus firmly on broad-based black economic empowerment.

Primary among these efforts was the department’s role in deracialising the estate agents’ profession, which Nxesi described as “an old boys’ club”.

Another focus area is transforming the built environment labour situation, especially as only 25% of registered construction professionals are black.

Opposition parties were less excited about the department’s performance.

EFF MP Primrose Sonti called it a theatre of corruption and a get-rich-quick scheme.