Another dubious lease deal revealed: R84 million to be spent on unused building for Justice Department
Yesterday, Justice Minister Jeff Radebe confirmed, in a written reply to a Democratic Alliance (DA) parliamentary question, that the Department of Public Works has leased a building in Pretoria for use by his Department at a rental of R3 662 426,81 per month. Rental has been paid since 1 January 2010, and the building will only be occupied by 30 November 2011 as they are still "busy with the required tenant installations".
Thus, over a period of 23 months, an amount of R84 235 816.63 will have been paid to lease a building that has been empty for most of that time. An additional R150 000 has also been paid since April on security services for the empty building. This is a shameful waste of money and yet another example of irresponsible financial management by the Public Works Department.
I will be posing additional parliamentary questions to determine why it was necessary for the Department of Justice to lease a new building, and why it was rented at this not insignificant amount of money when it was apparently unsuitable for use. In addition, we need to know what kind of work needs to be done to the building, which must be quite extensive if it has not yet been completed after 18 months, and who is paying for it.
This latest revelation is strangely reminiscent of the Police lease deal saga, whereby inflated rentals were agreed to by the Department of Public Works for buildings yet to be renovated. An investigation into that deal by the Public Protector found that both Public Works Minister Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde and Police Commissioner Bheki Cele were guilty of conduct that was improper, unlawful and amounted to maladministration. Depending on the answers received to my questions on the Justice Department lease, this matter may also require investigation by the Public Protector.
In the meantime, I shall refer it to the Auditor-General to investigate the seemingly fruitless and wasteful expenditure incurred to date.
Statement issued by Debbie Schafer MP, DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, August 4 2011
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