The Telkom Towers, purchased in 2016 for nearly R700 million to serve as the headquarters for the South African Police Service (SAPS) in Pretoria, were evacuated in February 2024 and have been vacant since.

Dean Macpherson, Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, in a written reply to Parliament, told MPs that a forensic report into the mismanagement of the complex is now complete, but that the site “is not yet ready for full use”.

The Minister of Police, in a letter dated 29 October 2024, said SAPS plans to withdraw from the Telkom Towers Complex and pursue “an alternative accommodation strategy”.

Macpherson said the department is working on a proposal to address SAPS’s long-term accommodation needs and potentially replace the current leasing model.

GroundUp reported how the complex was evacuated and flagged as a material irregularity by the Auditor-General. Macpherson then launched an investigation into the purchase of the complex in August last year. In September this year, MPs on the Portfolio Committee on Public Works criticised the slow progress of the investigation.

According to Macpherson, SAPS currently operates from 22 leased properties in Pretoria’s city centre, covering approximately 144,672m² of office space and 2,186 parking bays. “These leases cost the state about R444-million annually,” he said in a written response to a question from Bonginkosi Madikizela (DA).

“To reduce this financial burden, the Telkom Towers Complex, measuring around 99,277m² with 2,214 parking bays, was purchased for R694-million (VAT included), with SAPS contributing over R543-million toward the cost. The intention was to consolidate SAPS operations at this site,” he said.

One of the nine buildings in the complex, Macpherson said, had been refurbished in October 2022 by the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) on behalf of the department. A certificate of occupancy was issued at the time, and SAPS began partial occupation. But in February 2024, the Department of Employment and Labour issued prohibition and contravention notices relating to safety and compliance concerns.

According to Macpherson, the department appointed a contractor for 36 months. “Since then, significant progress has been made in resolving the outstanding issues, including improving lighting, ventilation, fire safety equipment, and internal housekeeping matters,” he said.

“The department is also engaging with the City of Tshwane to obtain a new certificate of occupancy, as the initial one was withdrawn following the safety findings. Additional work requested by the City, including the installation of fire doors, fire seals, and a fireman’s lift, is underway and expected to be completed (this month),” he added.

The findings of the forensic report will be announced once Macpherson has reviewed them.

SAPS national spokesperson, Athlenda Mathe, confirmed that SAPS is looking for an alternative HQ due to the “ten-year delay” at Telkom Towers. She said talks between Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia and Macpherson are expected to happen soon “to determine the way forward”.

Written by Matthew Hirsch for GroundUp and republished with permission. The original article can be found here.

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“Would you like to work in an environment like this?” an employee asked the Portfolio Committee on Public Works and Infrastructure during its site visit.

The committee visited only Telkom Towers North, just one of the buildings that make up the vast complex in Pretoria. The SAPS employee complained about water leaks, poor air circulation, dusty conditions and shoddy electrical workmanship.

In February, offices were evacuated after they were declared unfit for human use. According to the Auditor-General’s report, eight of the nine buildings in the complex have never been used.

The inspection follows a site visit by the Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure Dean Macpherson in August, after which he commissioned an independent report into the R695-million purchase of the Telkom Towers complex in 2016 and its subsequent renovation for R250-million.

Carol Phiri, committee chairperson, led the oversight visit. She said the condition of the building was bad and that they would be compiling a report and taking it to the plenary.

“I think we also need to kickstart a forensic audit. We need to get to the bottom of what happened here because money for service delivery has been spent. Government money has just gone down the drain. This project has taken too long and it is still incomplete,” said Phiri.

She said the conditions in the other buildings are thought to be worse, as little or no work had been done on them as they continue to fall into disrepair.

She also said the committee had not received any timelines from the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure as to when the project might be completed.

“There seems to be a headless chicken approach. It’s been eight or nine years already since these buildings were purchased. Even in the presentations we were shown, they are not telling us when they anticipate to finish. The longer we sit with these buildings, which are unmaintained, the more money we are going to lose,” said Phiri.

Written by Ihsaan Haffejee for GroundUp and republished with permission. The original article can be found here.

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According to Macpherson, the report should detail who is to blame and what will be the best solution moving forward for the Telkom Towers to limit further wastage of taxpayer money.

Earlier this month, the Minister conducted an oversight inspection at the Telkom Towers.

The building was procured to serve as the South African Police headquarters in 2016 to the tune of nearly R700 million. Officials say to date, over R200 million has been spent on renovations and other services but the building remains empty due to lapses.

Addressing the media in Cape Town on Wednesday, Macpherson said in the coming weeks, a tender for a second independent investigation will be released to investigate leases which have been established by the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure to ensure that these leases were completed within the confines of the law and that the state is paying market-related prices for each.

“Shortly after my appointment, we initiated an investigation into an R300 million IT security breach that spans a decade. The investigation builds on the work Deputy Minister Sihle Zikalala started earlier this year when vulnerabilities were discovered in the department’s Information and Technology Systems,” the Minister said.

Macpherson said preliminary reports since the extent of the security breach was found suggest that the amount of money stolen over the period confirms the seriousness of the matter.

Macpherson has further authorised the department’s legal services to assist the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) with litigation at the Special Tribunal to recover up to R20 million against Kroucamp Plumbers.

“This case involves tenders received by Kroucamp Plumbers in 2015 and 2018, where procurement processes were found to be unlawful and unconstitutional.

“The SIU discovered that payments were made to officials in our department amounting to over R300 000, and these actions are indicative of corruption that we are determined to root out,” the Minister said.

Macpherson said his goal is to make the department play a central role in using public assets for the public good and to help turn South Africa into a construction site which will ignite economic growth and create jobs.

“Over the past eight weeks, I believe we have started to lay the foundation for the work to begin to see cranes in the sky all over South Africa,” Macpherson said.

Central to the department’s strategy for increased infrastructure investment is to see the expansion and the capacitation of Infrastructure South Africa (ISA).

“We want to ensure that ISA functions as the single point of entry for all priority infrastructure projects, streamlining processes and reducing inefficiencies that have previously hampered project delivery,” Macpherson said.

This will not only improve efficiency but also ensure that the department prioritise projects with the greatest economic and social impact.

“And, this will increase investor confidence in public infrastructure projects, knowing that where Infrastructure South Africa is involved, construction projects are completed on time and within budget.

“We are accelerating broader budget reforms by collaborating with the National Treasury to streamline the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) process and establish an Infrastructure Fund that reports directly to the National Treasury.

“We are diversifying funding sources for infrastructure projects by focusing on PPPs, blended finance, and social infrastructure programmes. ISA will work closely with the National Treasury to direct investments toward projects with the highest GDP [gross domestic product] impact and job creation potential,” the Minister said.

The Minister said as the department pushes forward with reforms to ignite infrastructure investment, it was important that the department get its own house in order to ensure that it delivers on the core mandate.

“Accountability and transparency should be at the core of everything we do, while we work to eliminate corruption and abuse in all spheres of our organisation.”

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Macpherson told the media he is going to ask for an investigation, and he believes that the question should be asked whether it was at all necessary to purchase the premises for such a large sum at the time.

Macpherson and Pretoria’s mayor, Cilliers Brink, on 2 August visited the Telkom Towers building, which was bought and renovated by the Department of Public Works for almost R900 million eight years ago. R250 million was then spent on its renovation, but six months ago, the building had to be evacuated after Solidarity responded to complaints from members of the SAPS and consequently demanded an inspection by the Department of Employment and Labour. The building was then declared unfit for human occupation.

According to Johan Böning, head of occupational health and safety at Solidarity, the building has not been in regular use since then, and SAPS members are now scattered all over and housed in other buildings, while some apparently have no office space and therefore they have to stay at home.

“It is disheartening that so much public funding has been spent to purchase and renovate the building, [and it has been] vandalised and occupied by criminal elements, thereby creating an additional burden for the City of Tshwane,” Macpherson said. “We simply cannot spend more than eight years trying to establish how to secure public property while it deteriorates into lawlessness.”

Macpherson said the investigation will need to determine why the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure bought the Telkom Towers and if it was necessary; what the process was which was followed for contracts to be appointed and whether the contractors were fit for purpose; whether any officials should be held accountable for the purchase and renovation of the building; if there’s a possibility of reclaiming money from contractors; what can be done with the building going forward; and what steps can be taken to avoid the situation from occurring again.

Böning said he was impressed that Minister Macpherson was able to find the time to visit the SAPS building so soon after his appointment to this important portfolio.

“Hopefully the new minister is here to bring change. Like him, we also want to know what irregularities took place here and who should be held responsible for it all. Apparently very little, if any, renovation has been done at Telkom Towers since the building was vacated in February. We as the public will only be able to expect better service from SAPS members if they also feel their own workplace is safe and neat,” Böning said.

“Solidarity is also aware of other SAPS sites that have been badly neglected, and we have asked the minister to pay attention to them as well,” the trade union said.

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