Johannesburg - The Bryanston residence meant to house Gauteng premiers has again raised eyebrows - this time for costing taxpayers R4.2 million in the past year despite the current premier not living in it.
The property, which housed previous premiers Mbhazima Shilowa and Nomvula Mokonyane, has been at the centre of controversy many times over the past five years because of the amount of money that has been poured into buying, repairing and maintaining it.
Nearly R30m has been spent on the house in Eccleston Drive since it was bought in 2004 and, during a recent questions and answers session in the legislature, it emerged that R4.2m has been spent since May last year, an enormous increase since 2013 when the budget set aside for the property was R694 000.
This was for converting a mini-golf course into a parking lot, the replacement of door locks and damaged furniture. There were also repairs done to the plasterwork, plumbing, electrical, paint and ceilings.
About R309 000 was spent on gardening and R30 000 on refurbishing the pool - this just a year after R570 000 was used to repair the same pool.
On top of that, Masingita Properties No 2 (Pty) Ltd, one of the 144 companies owned by retail mogul and entrepreneur Mike Nkuna, was appointed for R1.9m. It is not clear what the company was hired for. Security since May last year has cost R786 000, said MEC for Infrastructure Development Nandi Mayathula-Khoza.
Mayathula-Khoza, whose department is in charge of looking after the house, said it was used for business engagements with national and international guests.
When Gauteng Premier David Makhura was offered the house last year, he chose to stay in his family residence, which is not paid for by the government, said his spokesman Thabo Masebe.
Masebe said the Executive Council decided the official residence should be used for hosting meetings and functions and that the province would save money this way.
The amount of money saved, however, was not divulged.
DA MPL Jack Bloom, who asked the questions, said the latest spending on the property was excessive.
He said the provincial government already had a conference centre.
“This house is a white elephant that should be sold as soon as possible. I suspect it is being retained because connected people are making money out of its running costs and never-ending repairs and maintenance,” Bloom said.
He asked how many times it needed to be renovated.
“Premier Makhura claims he is cutting unnecessary costs. He should sell this house which no longer serves any useful purpose, but just chews more and more money,” Bloom said.
In 2011, The Star revealed that the Gauteng government had spent about R24m in seven years on the property.The house was bought in March 2004 for R11.5m and R12.2m had been spent on renovations.
The house is a massive 1150m2 double-storey building, complete with the rim-flow pool, which is built over a playroom, several reception rooms, four bedrooms upstairs and a guest suite downstairs.
In 2013, the Gauteng budget revealed that “maintenance” to the property was R7.5m for the next three years.
The revelation of the R7.5m budget led to Finance MEC Mandla Nkomfe apologising to Mokonyane saying the numbers were wrong and the R7m for spending in 2015/16 should have been recorded as R500 000, dropping the total maintenance to R1.2m.
Mokonyane said she was so upset by the media reports on the house that she consulted a priest.
She said the house had serious structural problems and water seepage, which caused damage to ceilings, walls and furnishings.
She had also added “a touch of Nomvula” with teacups patterned with pink flowers instead of the government’s plain white cups.
Later that year, the adjusted budget by the Department of Infrastructure showed spending increase from R120 000 to R694 000 to repair the pool.
@AngeliqueSerrao
The Star