Government

Over 6,000 government-owned residential properties in South Africa under investigation

Caitlyn Hilliard-Lomas

 ·20 Jul 2026

Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson has requested an investigation into the 6,238 state-owned residential properties allocated to government departments, and occupied by government members.

Macpherson has requested the department’s Director-General, Sifiso Mdakane, to conduct the investigations.

He also urged the director-general to develop a comprehensive strategy for disposing of properties not required for legitimate operational purposes.

The 6,238 state-owned residential properties are spread across KwaZulu-Natal, the Western Cape, Gauteng and other unnamed provinces.

The number of state-owned residential properties located in each province:

The department recorded that nearly R40 million was spent from its day-to-day maintenance budget during the 2025/2026 financial year.

However, the available expenditure information relates to only 108 of the 6,238 state-owned properties.

Mdakane has been requested to submit a comprehensive report to Minister Macpherson within 30 days. This report needs to include a complete assessment of the 3,626 properties located in KwaZulu-Natal.

It also needs to identify the User Department to which each property has been allocated, as well as its intended purpose and operational need.

The report is also supposed to specify the capacity in which the current occupant resides at the property and which properties should be retained, repurposed or disposed of.

The report requires the Director-General to separately identify the properties occupied by officials of the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure.

It should also determine whether the same allocation criteria, governance requirements, rental provisions, and housing entitlement checks.

The report is required to determine whether tax treatments applied to other departments have been consistently enforced, without exceptions or preferential treatment.

Minister Dean Macpherson requests a comprehensive investigation

The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure said the investigation should examine the following:

• The legislative and regulatory framework for the leasing of state-owned residences, including compliance with the Government Immovable Asset Management Act, the Public Finance Management Act, and applicable National Treasury regulations.
• Whether the rental rates charged are market-related and whether the necessary approvals have been obtained for any deviations.
• Whether officials occupying work facilities or official housing meet the eligibility criteria for such accommodation based on their conditions of employment, and whether the correct fringe benefit tax treatment has been applied.
• Whether User Departments have surrendered properties that are no longer needed for service delivery, and whether any surplus properties should be repurposed, redeveloped, disposed of, or removed from the State’s portfolio.

“It is my view that the State should not own more than 6,000 residential properties for government officials, particularly when many officials already receive housing allowances, subsidies or other housing-related benefits as part of their remuneration packages,” said Macpherson.

“Unless there is a clear and compelling operational reason for the State to retain a residential property, it should be sold,” he said.

Macpherson said that the default position cannot be for the State to indefinitely cover the maintenance, rates, and other expenses of thousands of residential properties while the public finances remain under significant pressure.

“We need to establish who is occupying each property, the basis on which it was allocated and whether it still serves a legitimate public purpose,” he said.

“Where properties are underutilised, unnecessary or no longer required for government operations, they should be released from the State’s portfolio through a transparent and legally compliant disposal process.”

He explained that selling properties no longer needed by the State will cut unnecessary spending, create value for the public, and allow the government to concentrate its limited resources on infrastructure and assets that directly enhance service delivery.