The firm of architects which worked on the Government Pensions Administration Agency’s (GPAA) fake head office building contends it earned its R26.7m fee fairly and squarely, despite the building not being available for occupation by the agency’s staff.

Dikeamo Architects visited the Brooklyn Bridge Office Park at least eight times and drew up architectural plans to prepare the building interior for the GPAA head office to move in, reports News24.

Shula Developers, which offered the property to the GPAA for lease and won the October 2024 tender in a process that appears to be riddled with irregularities, facilitated the architectural firm’s access to the site on all eight occasions between September 2024 and February this year, said Diphethlo Masemola, Dikeamo’s managing director.

‘There was no reason (for Dikeamo) to question the manner in which access was provided to us from time to time,’ said Masemola.

Shula Developers agreed to lease the building to the GPAA for R1bn over 10 years and signed another agreement to develop Dikeamo’s interior designs at a cost of R239m. The GPAA also paid Shula R35.9m upfront for the partition work.

The pensions agency was set to move into the building during the first quarter of 2026. No partitions were installed and the GPAA will not be accessing the building. 

JSE-listed real estate provider Attacq, confirmed it is the owner of the Pretoria-based property and had neither negotiated any sale agreement nor granted Shula Developers permission to trade on the property. 

Attacq said its own tenants in the building have valid leases and that the building will not be handed over to Shula Developers or the GPAA.

Dikeamo had responded to the GPAA’s request for proposal to provide the service and won the five-year contract to provide architectural and space planning services for the GPAA’s head and regional offices.

Dikeamo’s architectural designs were never implemented although the firm was paid R26.7m for them, News24 says.

This inflated the total cost of the lease to closer to R1.3bn. GPAA CEO Kedibone Olga Madiehe has been suspended by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana.

All three transactions appear contorted to fleece the GPAA allegedly in contravention of the Public Finance Management Act, which prohibits state agencies from making payments ahead of receiving the services for which they are paying.

The GPAA confirmed the Dikeamo transaction is under investigation as it is part of the Shula Developers lease contract. 

‘The GPAA is committed not to compromise the integrity of such investigation and therefore do not wish to comment on these matters currently, save to confirm that the necessary legal processes are under way,’ said spokesperson Mack Lewele. 

The GPAA’s audit team had picked up on the irregularities and requested Godongwana to put a stop to the transactions and to institute a forensic investigation. 

Full News24 report