A 16-story government-owned building with 302 flats has stood empty for two years because the lifts have not been fixed.
I discovered this when I visited the residential buildings next to the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital that were built to accommodate student nurses.
The hospital blames the provincial public works department, but this is only part of the problem.
Government departments often don't even know how many properties they have, what they are worth and what their current condition is.
Year after year the Auditor General complains about their inadequate asset registers.
It would be unthinkable for private companies not to know what they own and to strive to make best use of all assets.