KZN Public Works and Infrastructure MEC Martin Meyer and eThekwini Metro Mayor Cyril Xaba briefed the media on the city's plans for bad buildings. (Lyse Comins/M&G)
The KwaZulu-Natal public works and infrastructure department is releasing 133 properties on tender, to be sold or leased to public or private entities, and is donating a further three “bad buildings” to the eThekwini municipality to help with its housing crisis.
This comes as wrangling between the Democratic Alliance, Inkatha Freedom Party, ANC and other parties in the government of national unity heats up after President Cyril Ramaphosa last week signed into law the Expropriation Act, which allows the government to take land from private owners without compensation if this is “in the public interest”.
At a property management conference on Tuesday, KwaZulu-Natal public works and infrastructure MEC Martin Meyer vowed to uphold individual property rights, saying his department, which owns more than 10 000 properties worth more than R20 billion, was one of the biggest property owners in the province.
“It’s very important for us to use those R20 billion worth of properties for the benefit of the people and to unlock the great potential that we have within this province,” he said.
“I can therefore also announce that we are now in the process — the signatures have been done — of releasing 133 properties across KZN to people. These properties will be seven buildings for outright purchase, 28 for long-term leases and 108 parcels of empty land that we will now be making available for people to come to us and say, ‘This is how they want to use this land to the benefit of the people.’”
The buildings would go out on public tender for proposals from the public.
Meyer said the government could not confront the problem of hijacked buildings, underused structures, dilapidated assets, lagging innovation and “horrendous red tape and obstacles” alone.
“This conference … is happening in the midst of uncertainty on property rights in South Africa but KZN remains committed to strong partnerships, from working in the unique KZN environment with private-owned land, state-owned land, Ngonyama Trust land, with all our strategic partners, to use real estate and properties to jumpstart the KZN economy,” he said.
“The government of KZN also remains committed to creating a climate that is pro job creation, pro economic growth and investor friendly. And part of achieving that is by ensuring that property rights, as enshrined in our Constitution, are respected and protected.”
Meyer said the department was also in the process of handing three bad buildings to the eThekwini municipality and that their potential uses included emergency housing for people who have to seek shelter due to floods and fires in informal settlements and mixed-use private and social housing developments.
The memorandum of understanding signed between his department, the national department of public works and infrastructure and eThekwini was already bearing fruit.
eThekwini mayor Cyril Xaba said some bad buildings would need to be demolished.
Public works and infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson. (Supplied)
“We are looking at several actions. My team is assessing the conditions of all these buildings and very soon we will be going to council with draft resolutions,” he said.
Meyer said, through a public-private partnership initiative with Enza Construction, the city had started the R800 million refurbishment of the Esplanade government building which, once completed, would be a mixed-use space comprising offices, shops and businesses, and would have solar power.
Public works and infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson said he was available for discussions with the private sector about partnering to build the province and that the police had made inroads in dealing with the so-called “construction mafia”.
“But, at the end of the day, if we want to attract investment, we must have policy certainty. The business community must have line of sight of what our thinking is … We need to be robust and honest in our engagement about how to be able to guarantee people’s investment. If you can’t secure capital inflows, it’s not going to come,” he said.
“I think that we’ll get through it … we have to get through it for the sake of this province, for the sake of our country, because the builders have to stick together. If the breakers get hold of this country, we won’t have anything left.
“We’re committed to working through issues and I think we’ll be able to provide more certainty to the business community.”
KZN Premier Thami Ntuli said the provincial government was cleaning up its asset base “so that it is not good for criminal activities such as illegal drug abuse, human trafficking and violations of building regulations”.
“Government buildings and properties should be viewed as an asset that can assist in broadening economic developments and empowerment for our people,” he said.
“It is my view, therefore, that this issue can be resolved when we work together as social partners in the property management sector, government and local authorities to collaboratively devise solutions.”