Concerns over failure to recover stolen state property
Taxpayers have already spent R31.4m on a project to recover stolen and occupied state properties, but only 20 out of the more than 600 properties have been recovered.
Public Works & Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson is so unimpressed with the results of Operation Bring Back that he is considering redirecting the R237m budget for the initiative to ‘more productive programmes’, Die Burger reports.
Macpherson said in a parliamentary response to Bonginkosi Madikizela (DA MP) that four service providers have been appointed on two-year contracts ranging from R54m to R64m to recover properties.
The programme was restarted in 2015.
The service providers are supposed to execute an audit of national and provincial asset registers against information at the Deeds Office and to provide legal services to reverse fraudulent transfers and initiate eviction proceedings.
Over the last two years, the service providers have been paid R31.4m for ‘minimal results – and in some cases no results’, Macpherson said.
‘This is illustrated by the fact that only 1% of identified properties have actually been handed back to the department. It is clear that the budget amount of R237.3m for the programme over the medium term must be reconsidered.’
The service providers are Concost G3 Consortium (KZN, Mpumalanga), Black Dot Property Consultants (Free State, E-Cape), Fundudzi Forensic Services JV (W-Cape and N-Cape), and BDO Advisory Services (North West, Gauteng and Limpopo).
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
