Public Works set to fork out R50m to settle a property lease for building that was never occupied

Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Dean Macpherson, and the Deputy Director-General for the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP), Carmen-Joy Abrahams.

The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure is going to have to fork out R50 million to settle with a lessor after they had signed a five-year lease worth almost R70 million, which had already been concluded, despite never taking up occupancy at the facility.

This was revealed by Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Dean Macpherson, who, along with the Deputy Minister, Sihle Zikalala, addressed the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) as part of their departmental Budget Vote address.

He touched on the reform of the Independent Development Trust (IDT), detailed the ongoing investigations into Property Management Trading Entity’s (PMTE’s) leasing failures, ghost employees, lifestyle audits, EPWP abuse, the PSA Oxygen Plant tender, and Telkom Towers.

One of Macpherson’s big announcements was the reform of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) with the launch of a Working on Infrastructure pilot program, after close to four and a half thousand participants and community members raised serious concerns about gatekeeping, manipulated lists, ghost beneficiaries, unfair access, abuse, and even sex for jobs.