The new state-owned VIP guesthouse has cost you R93-million, and now the minister of public works has halted the even more expensive fix-up of Jacob Zuma’s official residence.
“We were in the process of doing it, but the cost also is what has caused us to stop,” said Public Works Minister Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde at a media briefing in Pretoria on tuesday.
The renovation of the president’s official residence, Mahlamba Ndlopfu, in the Bryntirion Estate in Pretoria, is budgeted at R192m over five years, according to February’s national budget documents.
Mahlangu-Nkabinde said R177m had been earmarked for the project, but a lot could be saved by doing some work in-house.
“There is no house that is built for R177m. As soon as I heard of it, as the present minister, I put a stop to it and I said the expertise you see around the table should help me arrive at giving the president what he needs, but also at a very cost-effective price,” she said.
According to a Public Works statement released on tuesday, the president was to have stayed at the new VIP house in Bryntirion – built for visiting heads of state – while renovations were under way at Mahlamba Ndlopfu.
Mahlangu-Nkabinde said the new VIP guesthouse was “earmarked for the deputy president”, cost R93m and was finished before she took over her portfolio in November.
“Yes, I do understand that there’s an outcry over exorbitant figures, and I agree…” said Mahlangu-Nkabinde.
The existence of the new VIP house came to light earlier this month when The Star discovered that the state was shopping for artworks, Persian rugs and gold cutlery for it, among other items.
The department had previously refused to reveal how much the new VIP house cost. Tender documents for building it were issued in 2006, and called for contractors qualified for projects worth up to R30m at the time. That indicates the building project ran massively over budget, or that the cost of furnishing it ran into tens of millions of rand.
On Tuesday the department hinted that the tenders for the VIP house furnishings might now be on hold.
“The minister has noted with concern the high cost related to the planned purchase of cutlery, carpets and other items for VIP residents. The minister has since directed that instead of outsourcing this function as planned, the matter be dealt with through our own capacity, using our own professionals,” said the department.
Mahlangu-Nkabinde said such work would no longer go out on public tender, for confidentiality and security reasons.
“We are not going to go on tender for issues related to the houses of presidents,” she said, saying such transparency left the VIPs vulnerable, and it was lucky nothing bad had happened so far.
“If there is a carpet that is going to be refurbished, surely you don’t have to go on tender for that, you just have to fix it.”
The department is also renovating Maroela House in Bryntirion for the military’s Presidential Medical Unit, which previously operated from a caravan. The Budget allocated R62m for this, but on tuesday the department dropped a third from this price and Mahlangu-Nkabinde said: “We are not going to be spending a cent in that regard. If we need expertise to renovate that house, we are going to use the in-house expertise that we have.”
Private contractor Keren Kula Construction was appointed on Friday for the Maroela project, and on tuesday the minister and officials avoided questions on how much this contract was worth.
On Monday, The Star reported that the department is spending R4.2 billion over seven years on the “Prestige” accommodation portfolio, which includes the official president’s and ministers’ residences, the parliamentary village and the Union Buildings.
When department officials were asked on Tuesday how much of this was to accommodate the extra cabinet members appointed after the cabinet was expanded in 2009, deputy director-general Rachard Samuel dismissed the R4.2bn figure – obtained from the national budget documents – and said it was about R486m over a number of provinces.