CAPE TOWN - The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure will be auditing its properties.
They want to know who occupies them and whether they qualify to occupy them. The department said they want to develop a comprehensive strategy for the disposal of certain properties.
Minister Dean Macpherson said over 6,000 properties were occupied by government officials through their client departments.
"That came as a surprise to me, considering that over half of those are in KwaZulu-Natal alone," said Macpherson.
"We want to understand why that is so," he added.
MacPherson said if there are legitimate reasons why that is the case, then the department can accept them. If not, then it is time for the department to dispose of them to save costs.
MacPherson said in just 108 properties, the department is paying R40 million a year in maintenance expenses.
"The department is being required to fund potential operational and non-operational expenses of other departments, which is not fair," he said.
The department's budget has had to be reduced over the last two years. MacPherson said they would rather take the money to provide more opportunities.
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"It is not an easy exercise."
He said it would also allow the department to decide on the commercial decisions they can take with the assets.
"If we are, nationally, the largest owners of fixed assets in the country, we should be generating billions of rands in revenue from the performance of those assets," said MacPherson.
MacPherson said the department will, in this financial year, dispose of 801 properties through an auction process.