Independent probe into govt property maintenance spending
Public Works Minister Sihle Zikalala says the time has come to clean up the government's property maintenance programme.
He's appointed a three-member panel of senior legal practitioners and experts to investigate public representatives' procurement practices for the maintenance of their homes.
Lavish spending on government properties in Cape Town and Pretoria raised eyebrows recently.
It was revealed that a kitchen was refurbished to the tune of R1.4 million, curtains valued at over R50 000 were purchased and fumigation costs rose to R240 000.
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Zikalala says he wants to know why these costs were so high.
"That is why we have established an investigation by an independent team that will help us to get to the bottom of this issue.
"But all procurements that have been conducted in this past year should be investigated in the same manner because this indicated that it is possible that there were irregularities or even fraud conducted in this regard."
