Gauteng’s Infrastructure Department thumbs its nose at the law

10 December 2019

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng is disappointed that the ANC-led government has decided to not support a motion to have the property management function of the Department of Infrastructure Development (GDID) outsourced.

The DA tabled the motion during the last sitting of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL).

GDID is the custodian of all provincially-owned land and buildings and is legally obligated to manage the assets. Despite this obligation, the administration has chosen to ignore the law.

The Government Immovable Asset Management Act (GIAMA) became applicable to provinces in 2010. In the nine years since, the department, as a result of incompetence and inexperience, failed to employ the resources or to create the expertise in order to give effect to the legislation.

In terms of GIAMA, GDID as the custodian, together with the user departments, is legally obliged to evaluate all their assets on an annual basis and present the results of this evaluation to Treasury. These asset management plans then form the basis of conditional assessments as well as budgets to ensure maintenance and to prevent a loss of value.

Furthermore, the Annual Report 2018/2019 indicates that the following departments did not submit their asset management plans as required by the law:

Department of Infrastructure

Health

Education

Roads and Transport

Human Settlements

Office of the Premier

Sports, Culture, Arts and Recreation

Provincial Treasury

Co-operative Government and Traditional Affairs

E-Government

The direct and indirect result of failing to evaluate the immovable assets are unsafe schools, clinics and other government buildings, an inaccurate asset register, the loss of value due to deterioration, illegal activity on government assets, an inability to efficiently use assets and no provision being made for maintenance.

The time has come to determine whether the ANC will remain unmoved when the courts consider the fact that they have not acted in terms of the law.

Issued by Alan Fuchs,DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Infrastructure Development and Property Management, 10 December 2019