{"id":815286,"date":"2025-03-05T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=815286"},"modified":"2025-03-05T10:45:29","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T08:45:29","slug":"one-province-spent-r107-million-and-only-has-a-derelict-building-to-show-for-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/815286\/one-province-spent-r107-million-and-only-has-a-derelict-building-to-show-for-it\/","title":{"rendered":"One province spent R107 million and only has a derelict building to show for it"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Around 15 years ago, the Free State government envisioned transforming the historic Old Ramkraal Prison site into a prestigious provincial legislative complex and museum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The province spent over R100 million on the project. However, despite this tremendous investment, the site now resembles little more than a derelict scrapyard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ramkraal Prison, also known as the Old Prison, was built in Bloemfontein between 1893 and 1895 in response to a growing crime rate associated with the introduction of the railway line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prison was officially registered as a national monument on 13 July 1990 and used for other purposes. However, the heritage site was neglected and illegally occupied in the early 2010s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2012, the Free State provincial government under former Premier Ace Magashule proposed building a new legislature on the Ramkraal site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project included converting the prison into a museum, given that the legislature was too small for modern purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

R131.2 million was allocated to the Department of Public Works (DPW) over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This amount was later reduced to R119.2 million during the 2012 to 2013 financial year to make this project a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The estimated cost of the Ramkraal project, as per the unsigned feasibility report dated 3 August 2012, was R645 million, which was not affordable to DPW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the project was halted due to significant irregularities and non–<\/strong>compliance issues<\/span>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Free State Legislature entered into a multimillion-rand long-term lease agreement for office accommodation in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Auditor General investigates<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The lack of progress raised eyebrows, and in 2013, the DA in the Free State requested the former Speaker of Legislature, Ouma Tsopo, to investigate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After initially being blocked, an ad hoc committee was appointed, which recommended that the issue be referred to law enforcement agencies for further investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, on 12 February 2018, the former Free State Member of Executive Council (MEC) for Finance requested that the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) conduct a special audit of the project’s procurement processes and financial transactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was at the same time that, in 2018, the DA included the Ramkraal project in a submission to the Zondo Commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published in 2022, the Auditor-General of South Africa’s audit revealed significant irregularities and non-compliance issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The audit showed that R106.7 million was spent on the project from 2010\/2011 to 2013\/2014 with nothing to show for it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A significant portion of this, R99 million, is considered irregular expenditure, with vast amounts of money going to feasibility studies, contractors, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The estimated cost of the Ramkraal project, which was the basis for payments to consultants, increased significantly (49%) without evidence of approval from the DPW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Transaction advisory services accounted for R17.1 million of the irregular expenditure, while another consultant was overpaid by R506,817.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The contractor for phase 1 was paid R7.2 million, R729,794 over the contract price, to demolish some structures and erect security fences, of which there are no signs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Auditor-General report found that the entire project lacked proper authorisation, as evidenced by the absence of legislature approval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project was also not evaluated before commencement, and funds were spent without an approved funding model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SIU gets involved<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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In February 2024, the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) was authorised to investigate “allegations of serious maladministration, fraud and corruption” in the multimillion-rand project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SIU will investigate the affairs of the Free State Department of Public Works & Infrastructure and Human Settlements and the Provincial Legislature. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe SIU will also investigate payments made in a manner that was not fair, competitive, transparent, equitable or cost-effective; or contrary to applicable legislation, and any related unauthorised, irregular, or fruitless and wasteful expenditure incurred,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn addition to investigating maladministration, malpractice, corruption and fraud, the SIU will identify system failures and make systematic recommendations to improve measures to prevent future losses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kganyago says the investigation aims to determine whether state funds were unlawfully and negligently used and will refer any evidence of criminal conduct to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BusinessTech visit<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

BusinessTech visited the site, which resembles a half-demolished ghost town. Many walls have crumbled, the roof has collapsed, and vegetation is overgrown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Squatters have reclaimed old holding cells, and fires have scorched their walls. The interiors have been stripped of all valuable materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite millions allocated for security measures, such as security fencing, it has either been stolen or was not installed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The historic Old Ramkraal Prison<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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What the Old Ramkraal Prison looks like today after R107 million was spent on the site<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The entrance of the old prison and envisioned provincial legislature. Photo: Seth Thorne<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photo: Seth Thorne<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Free State\u2019s plan to transform the historic Ramkraal Prison into a legislature complex and museum collapsed amid wasteful spending, fraud, and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101,"featured_media":815291,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[6480,21914,21913],"class_list":["post-815286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-free-state","tag-old-ramkraal-prison","tag-ramkraal-prison"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/101"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=815286"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":815375,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815286\/revisions\/815375"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/815291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=815286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=815286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=815286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}