Public works MEC Thandiswa Marawu has called on whistleblowers to come forward and help trace missing state properties.
Marawu was addressing a press briefing at the department’s Amalinda offices yesterday, when she said although they had made strides in registering state assets, some were proving hard to trace.
The department said culprits who had “stolen” state houses and farms were concentrated in the East London, Mthatha and Port Elizabeth areas.
“When we took over in 1994, some ruthless thieves illegally took ownership of some of the state’s properties like farms and houses.
“We appointed a team who has know-how of what could have happened during the transitional period. The team is working with the deeds office – using its records – to try and trace more of these assets,” she said.
Two years ago the national Public Works Department said some 10000 properties belonged to national and provincial departments and local municipalities but many were now unaccounted for.
The Daily Dispatch reported at the time that they were not on national, provincial or local registers.
Marawu said the provincial task team, working with the national task team, urged whistleblowers to come forward with information that leads to the discovery of assets.
The Eastern Cape has to reconcile three asset registers – one each from the former homelands, Ciskei and Transkei, and one from the former Border region under the old Cape Provincial Administration.
Public Works HoD James Mlawu said they had managed to reconcile more than 90% of state assets.
“We believe that community members are the ones we can rely on to pinpoint these houses because they were there during the previous regime,” said Marawu..
“We have to use them and verify the information they give. This is a huge task but we are surely getting there steadily.”
The MEC also announced that the department had handed over land to several local municipalities for the building of more than 8000 RDP houses to assist in dealing with housing backlogs.
MEC calls for tip-offs on stolen assets
Marawu was addressing a press briefing at the department’s Amalinda offices yesterday, when she said although they had made strides in registering state assets, some were proving hard to trace.
The department said culprits who had “stolen” state houses and farms were concentrated in the East London, Mthatha and Port Elizabeth areas.
“When we took over in 1994, some ruthless thieves illegally took ownership of some of the state’s properties like farms and houses.
“We appointed a team who has know-how of what could have happened during the transitional period. The team is working with the deeds office – using its records – to try and trace more of these assets,” she said.
Two years ago the national Public Works Department said some 10000 properties belonged to national and provincial departments and local municipalities but many were now unaccounted for.
The Daily Dispatch reported at the time that they were not on national, provincial or local registers.
Marawu said the provincial task team, working with the national task team, urged whistleblowers to come forward with information that leads to the discovery of assets.
The Eastern Cape has to reconcile three asset registers – one each from the former homelands, Ciskei and Transkei, and one from the former Border region under the old Cape Provincial Administration.
Public Works HoD James Mlawu said they had managed to reconcile more than 90% of state assets.
“We believe that community members are the ones we can rely on to pinpoint these houses because they were there during the previous regime,” said Marawu..
“We have to use them and verify the information they give. This is a huge task but we are surely getting there steadily.”
The MEC also announced that the department had handed over land to several local municipalities for the building of more than 8000 RDP houses to assist in dealing with housing backlogs.
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