{"id":870492,"date":"2026-08-20T10:13:31","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T08:13:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=870492"},"modified":"2026-08-20T10:13:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T08:13:35","slug":"taxpayers-in-south-africa-pay-r6-8-million-every-month-for-an-empty-building-in-pretoria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/870492\/taxpayers-in-south-africa-pay-r6-8-million-every-month-for-an-empty-building-in-pretoria\/","title":{"rendered":"Taxpayers in South Africa pay R6.8 million every month for an empty building in Pretoria"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Department of Public Works has revealed that the empty Telkom Towers building in Pretoria, intended to serve as the headquarters of the South African Police Service (SAPS), is costing taxpayers R6.8 million each month.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SAPS is spending nearly R40 million a month to rent office space in the city centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a recent meeting of the Portfolio Committee for Public Works and Infrastructure in Parliament, officials from the department were questioned regarding these expenses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Telkom Towers was purchased in 2016 for almost R700 million but was evacuated in February 2024 due to health and safety concerns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, the complex has remained unoccupied. SAPS has only used one of the nine buildings, while the others, which collectively cost at least R592 million, have remained vacant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This situation has been highlighted by the Auditor-General as a significant irregularity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In August 2024, Public Works Minister Dean Macpherson initiated an investigation into the acquisition of the property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In October 2024, the police minister announced that the South African Police Service (SAPS) would withdraw from the Telkom Towers complex and pursue an “alternative accommodation strategy.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mandla Sithole, the Deputy Director-General of Public Works, recently informed Members of Parliament (MPs) that SAPS currently has 68 leases in Pretoria. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of these, 22 leases located in the city centre cost about R444 million annually, covering a total of 150,000 square meters of office space and providing 2,000 parking bays. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sithole said that Minister Macpherson plans to meet with the Minister of Police to discuss this issue further. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Sithole, R5 million is spent monthly on municipal services, R500,000 on security, and about R1.3 million on rates.\u00a0He emphasised that these figures are estimates and remain unverified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Health and safety concerns over the Telkom buildings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Source: GroundUp<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The department said it estimated that R1.6 billion would be required to refurbish the Telkom complex and is exploring a public-private partnership to address this need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Member of Parliament, Nkosinathi Nxumalo, said it was \u201cnot a lack of money or expertise, it\u2019s a lack of political will to simply move SAPS into the building we already bought for them\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPrivate landlords are getting richer from the government rent. This is unacceptable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The controversial police headquarters at the Telkom Towers Complex is still unfit for use due to health and safety concerns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Dean Macpherson, informed Members of Parliament in a written response that a forensic report regarding the mismanagement of the Telkom Towers Complex has been completed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, he told Members of Parliament that the site is \u201cnot yet ready for full use.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a letter dated October, 2024, the Minister of Police stated that the SAPS plans to withdraw from the Telkom Towers Complex and pursue an alternative accommodation strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Macpherson mentioned that the department is developing a proposal to address SAPS\u2019s long-term accommodation needs, which may lead to a replacement of the current leasing model. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

GroundUp<\/a> reported that the complex was evacuated and that the Auditor-General identified it as a material irregularity.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response, Macpherson launched an investigation into the purchase of the complex in August 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In September 2025, members of the Portfolio Committee on Public Works criticised the slow progress of the investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the nine buildings in the complex was refurbished in October 2022 by the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) on behalf of the department. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A certificate of occupancy was issued at that time, and the SAPS began partial occupation of the building.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, in February 2024, the Department of Employment and Labour issued prohibition and contravention notices due to safety and compliance concerns. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South African taxpayers are paying R6.8 every month for an empty building in Pretoria.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":856517,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2090351644982575491","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2181463532674046","_sma_instagram_post_id":"17953539966218319","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[19085,5784,23156],"class_list":["post-870492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-department-of-public-works-and-infrastructure","tag-south-african-police-service-saps","tag-telkom-towers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870492","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\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=870492"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":871078,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870492\/revisions\/871078"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/856517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}