By Lebone Rodah Mosima
Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson has asked National Treasury to advise on an independent investigation into a roughly R70 million lease agreement concluded by the Property Management Trading Entity (PMTE) for a Pretoria building that was never occupied.
The Department of Public Works & Infrastructure said on Sunday that Macpherson had requested Treasury’s “directives, guidance and/or requirements” on instituting an independent probe into the procurement process and implementation of the lease for 146 Lunnon Road in Pretoria.
The lease was concluded in March 2023 by the PMTE for the then Department of Public Enterprises at a cost of R69,574,607.77 over five years, despite President Cyril Ramaphosa having already announced that the department would be reconfigured and closed.
The agreement was never enforced because occupation did not take place, the department said.
A preliminary report by the department’s Anti-Corruption and Fraud Awareness Unit found that PMTE later tried to advance the lease transaction in 2025 by creating a “self-created emergency” to accommodate the National Prosecuting Authority’s Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) in the same building.
The report found that the department had already concluded internal supply chain management processes for IDAC to be accommodated at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research property in Brummeria, Pretoria. However, the submission seeking the minister’s concurrence for that accommodation was not processed further.
According to the report, the failure to obtain the minister’s concurrence appeared to have been intentional in order to create an urgent need to accommodate IDAC at 146 Lunnon Road.
The report also found that the original 2023 tender process for 146 Lunnon Road was marked by serious irregularities.
Officials repeatedly recommended that the tender be cancelled, but the National Bid Adjudication Committee proceeded to award it despite concerns raised during the procurement process.
Concerns included that bidders had previously been found non-responsive, that questions existed about the bidder’s B-BBEE compliance, and that the department’s own procurement processes and National Treasury prescripts may not have been properly followed.
The Bid Evaluation Committee had twice recommended that the tender be cancelled, but the National Bid Adjudication Committee nevertheless approved the award, the report found.
Macpherson rejected the report’s recommendations, saying they failed to hold any official accountable for the supply chain failures and instead shifted responsibility to a deputy director-general who had already resigned.
The minister said Treasury’s guidance was needed to ensure an independent investigation could identify every official involved and ensure consequence management, including disciplinary or criminal action where necessary.
“These damning findings are exactly why an internal preliminary report by the Department is not enough. We need the National Treasury to provide direction and requirements as to an independent investigation to identify every official involved in this lease agreement, from its award to the later attempt to move IDAC into the building.
“The Department cannot place blame on one person who has already left, while others who may have created, approved, enabled or ignored this situation escape accountability. Every official involved must be identified and held accountable, whether through disciplinary or criminal action,” Macpherson said.
“These findings speak to the rot we are working to remove from the PMTE’s leasing environment. We will not allow public funds to be exposed to risk through dysfunction, negligence or abuse, and we will not allow officials to hide behind weak internal processes when their decisions may have exposed the State to legal and financial liability.
“Our commitment is clear: clean up the PMTE, restore lawful procurement, and ensure that those who fail the public are held accountable.”
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