The KwaZulu-Natal government will soon take a decision on what to do with the ‘white elephant’ legislature building in Ulundi, in the north of the province.
The building was built during the time of the now defunct KwaZulu-Natal government under the late Inkosi Mangosuthu Buthelezi, then the Chief Minister, and has been lying idle for decades since the ANC-led government immediately abandoned the structure after taking power from the IFP in 2004.
However, KZN Public Works and Infrastructure MEC Martin Meyer said it cannot be business as usual when such unused buildings drain the limited resources of the provincial government through rates and other related costs.
In a media briefing on Tuesday, the MEC said his department was busy finalising proposals which would be presented to the Cabinet on what to do with the building in order for it to be useful again.
“I think the media understands that this is a politically sensitive matter but I can confirm that in our proposal there are a couple of options that we will soon present to the cabinet for approval,” said the MEC.
He said when he came to office he issued a directive to have a clearer picture of the government asset registry, saying the goal was to get a better understanding of how much the government owns and, as the biggest ratepayer, ascertain whether those assets are being utilised as intended.
Meyer said not all the buildings are being put to use as intended, which has given rise to the hijacking of buildings, illegal occupations, structural deterioration and the use of buildings as crime and drug dens.
He said one of the negative impacts is that business confidence and appetite had been severely been affected with some opting to close shop or go elsewhere.
Meyer said the asset audit revealed that the provincial government has a total of 10 067 assets which includes buildings and parcels of land, however, to date only 43% had been physically verified. Out of the identified assets, the MEC said 92.34% are fully utilised while 5.54% is unutilised and 2.12% are underutilised.
"The clearer picture on what to do with the unutilised or underutilised buildings will be discussed at length at the upcoming property conference next week,“ Meyer said.
Willem.phungula@inl.co.za