Property: Levelling the field
The department of public works is looking to speed up transformation in the property sector by restructuring its property empowerment policy
The department of public works is rejigging its property empowerment policy with a view to giving black business more action in the department’s multibillion-rand property portfolio.Paul Serote, head of the department’s property management trading entity, says the review will be complete by end-March.The department, once a laggard among its peers, with rampant corruption in its lease agreements and widespread irregular expenditure, has finally completed its asset register — 15 years after first undertaking the exercise. It shows the department is the custodian of 31,310 land parcels and 92,593 buildings dotted across nine provinces and collectively valued at R112bn.The trading entity is in charge of managing the department’s properties.Serote says public works will spend R4bn procuring private leases from landlords in 2016/2017.Enter the SA Institute of Black Property Practitioners, which has been lobbying the department to ensure its members benefit from public works’ procurement s...
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