ActionSA supports the Portfolio Committee on Public Works and Infrastructure’s rejection of Minister Dean Macpherson’s apology for failing to appear before it on Tuesday.
The Minister was scheduled to account for urgent matters, including the long-delayed Telkom Towers forensic report and the status of the immovable asset register. Instead, he dodged accountability yet again, with an attendance rate of barely half of scheduled committee engagements, according to parliamentary records.
This absenteeism is particularly scandalous given the scale of the crisis in his portfolio. The Telkom Towers complex, purchased for R700 million to house the SAPS head office, stands vacant while the Department continues to spend between R1.3 million and R1.5 million every month on facilities management for an empty property, according to a reply to an ActionSA parliamentary question. Years after it was initiated, the forensic investigation into this debacle remains incomplete and hidden from Parliament.
In another reply to ActionSA Parliamentary Question, the Minister admitted that the backlog of essential repairs to government buildings has ballooned to R30 billion. Many police stations, correctional centres, and hospitals are deteriorating into poor or very poor condition. At current funding levels, it could take two decades just to address the backlog already identified, leaving South Africans to bear the brunt of collapsing state infrastructure.
It is shameful that while communities endure leaking roofs in police stations, unsafe schools, and crumbling hospitals, the Department squanders millions on a vacant skyscraper in Pretoria, all while the Minister fails to account.
ActionSA fully supports the Committee’s call for urgent access to the Telkom Towers forensic report and other investigations, including the controversial oxygen plant tender. In fact, ActionSA has already written to Minister Macpherson demanding the immediate public release of the full PwC investigative report into the R836 million oxygen plant tender, along with a clear plan for disciplinary, criminal, and remedial action.
Accountability cannot be optional when billions in public funds are at stake. Minister Macpherson’s behaviour reflects a culture of arrogance and disdain for parliamentary oversight. South Africans deserve a Public Works Minister who is present, accountable, and focused on fixing infrastructure, not one who is missing in action while billions are wasted.
Minister Macpherson Missing in Action While Billions Are Wasted on Empty Buildings
ActionSA supports the Portfolio Committee on Public Works and Infrastructure’s rejection of Minister Dean Macpherson’s apology for failing to appear before it on Tuesday.
The Minister was scheduled to account for urgent matters, including the long-delayed Telkom Towers forensic report and the status of the immovable asset register. Instead, he dodged accountability yet again, with an attendance rate of barely half of scheduled committee engagements, according to parliamentary records.
This absenteeism is particularly scandalous given the scale of the crisis in his portfolio. The Telkom Towers complex, purchased for R700 million to house the SAPS head office, stands vacant while the Department continues to spend between R1.3 million and R1.5 million every month on facilities management for an empty property, according to a reply to an ActionSA parliamentary question. Years after it was initiated, the forensic investigation into this debacle remains incomplete and hidden from Parliament.
In another reply to ActionSA Parliamentary Question, the Minister admitted that the backlog of essential repairs to government buildings has ballooned to R30 billion. Many police stations, correctional centres, and hospitals are deteriorating into poor or very poor condition. At current funding levels, it could take two decades just to address the backlog already identified, leaving South Africans to bear the brunt of collapsing state infrastructure.
It is shameful that while communities endure leaking roofs in police stations, unsafe schools, and crumbling hospitals, the Department squanders millions on a vacant skyscraper in Pretoria, all while the Minister fails to account.
ActionSA fully supports the Committee’s call for urgent access to the Telkom Towers forensic report and other investigations, including the controversial oxygen plant tender. In fact, ActionSA has already written to Minister Macpherson demanding the immediate public release of the full PwC investigative report into the R836 million oxygen plant tender, along with a clear plan for disciplinary, criminal, and remedial action.
Accountability cannot be optional when billions in public funds are at stake. Minister Macpherson’s behaviour reflects a culture of arrogance and disdain for parliamentary oversight. South Africans deserve a Public Works Minister who is present, accountable, and focused on fixing infrastructure, not one who is missing in action while billions are wasted.