Crooked officials plunder state land
De Lille cracks whip on dodgy practices at public works
● Crime syndicates working with corrupt department of public works & infrastructure officials are fleecing the government of millions of rands through the “hijacking” and illegal rental and sale of state-owned buildings and land.
The syndicates are taking advantage of a shambolic system that is supposed to record and manage all of the government’s 81,575 buildings and 30,495 pieces of land, which it estimates are worth a combined R127.7bn.
The register of immovable assets is in such chaos that the state does not know how much its properties are worth, where exactly they are, who occupies them, whether they are empty, or even whether they have been stolen.
Shocked by what she learnt when she took over a department that has become a byword for corruption, public works minister Patricia de Lille ordered a massive overhaul of the register and action against corrupt officials behind the illegal leases and sales.
“The minister is demanding answers as to what the hell is going on,” a senior official told the Sunday Times.
De Lille’s move comes ahead of a report that auditor-general Kimi Makwetu is set to table in parliament in November which includes findings on the register and the department’s Property Management Trading Entity.
Issues flagged in Makwetu’s report will be contained in the department’s annual report, due to be tabled in parliament this week.
In an interview with the Sunday Times, De Lille confirmed there were massive problems with the register.
“We are the custodians of 30,495 pieces of land and 81,575 buildings, yet little is known about these, including their values and status. The auditor-general has raised issues about this register, especially around the correct classification of the assets. He is perturbed by the lack of property values and correct addresses. I told department officials three months ago our information is unreliable and that this must be urgently addressed.”
The Sunday Times has independently uncovered instances in which current and former public works officials across SA have allegedly illegally rented out or sold properties belonging to the state. They include:
● A former clerk in the department’s Johannesburg office, Bhekisizwe Ngcobo, who was found guilty of fraud last week for renting out seven state-owned houses and flats in Johannesburg’s inner city, Roodepoort and Carletonville. Ngcobo pocketed the R70,000 in rent he charged his tenants;
● Thando Sentile from the Eastern Cape, who admitted this week to accepting payments of R20,000 each from two local people as down payments on state-owned double-storey houses in King William’s Town. Sentile begged the Sunday Times not to publish the story and vowed he would refund the money next week (see sidebar); and
● An official in KwaZulu-Natal who the department declined to name because he is facing disciplinary action for selling state land in Durban’s posh suburb of Glenashley.
De Lille’s spokesperson, Leigh-Anne Jansen, said another case being investigated is the sale of state land next door to the department’s own Durban regional office.
Hawks spokesperson Capt Simphiwe Mhlongo confirmed a case of fraud was being investigated by the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime unit, but said no arrests have yet been made.
Ngcobo, who resigned from the department before his disciplinary hearing could begin, will appear in the Johannesburg magistrate’s court tomorrow for sentencing.
Hillbrow police spokesperson Sgt Mduduzi Zondo said Ngcobo convinced his tenants to renovate the properties before moving into them and paying him rent.
“He began this scam in February last year. All the houses and flats were neglected. His victims paid him the money with the idea that they would occupy the properties once they had renovated them,” said Zondo.
De Lille said the properties mainly at risk of illegal occupation were those that were unregistered and not surveyed.
“A functioning electronic asset register will ensure greater accountability and help stop corruption, which is a tough fight. We are working closely with the auditor-general to ensure the proper monitoring and evaluation of all state properties,” she said.
Senior department officials told the Sunday Times that the illegal leasing and sale of state property was fuelled by there being open access to the register.
One said the police’s Special Investigating Unit and the department’s anti-corruption unit were investigating 2,162 “questionable” building leases.
“One knows there is a piece of land in a particular place owned by the state. Other than that you know nothing about the property. There is a huge problem of misclassification. You find properties listed as vacant when in fact there are buildings and houses on them. You have properties, including vast tracts of land, whose values and status are completely unknown,” the official said.
“Criminal syndicates, who work with corrupt officials, capitalise on this lack of knowledge.
“Corrupt officials, who access the unsecured register, work with criminals to identify neglected, forgotten or vacant properties. They transfer these to third parties and then sell or lease them, earning themselves millions of rands.
“We are not just talking about one property, but hundreds. Houses, flats, office blocks and land are being hijacked and stolen without government’s knowledge.”
The official said that though the department had made strides in developing an asset register, there were major problems that “fuel the risk of crime syndicates hijacking government properties”.
Another senior department official said improvements had been made to the register, but there are still serious challenges.
“Audits of the register only began two years ago. For years there has been no verified knowledge on what properties were owned, where they were, whether they were vacant or dilapidated, or their value,” the official said.
“With audits now carried out, things are improving, but given that the state owns so many buildings and land, it’s a huge task.”
The Sunday Times has seen the department’s action plan drawn up in response to Makwetu’s findings reflecting “recurring problems” about the misclassification of properties, that the properties on the register don’t match the properties the auditors inspected, and that the sizes of many properties have not been accurately recorded.
Jansen said public works had begun a project to establish how widespread the practice of letting out or selling off of stateowned properties is.
The DA’s public works spokesperson, Patricia Kopane, described the register and the department’s Property Management Trading Entity as a “disaster”.
“Property assets should earn the country revenue, yet we have a situation where the illegal renting and sale of state-owned land is rife,” she said.