By Thebe Mabanga
Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson used his contribution to Parliament’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) debate to expand on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s plan to establish a new State Property Company.
Ramaphosa said in his SONA last Thursday that government would begin work “this year” to create a professional State Property Company to turn government’s 88,000 buildings and five million hectares of land into “professionally managed engines of growth and development”.
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Macpherson said the proposed entity would be a ring-fenced, professionally governed platform intended to unlock value from state assets.
That value, he said, would be recycled into maintenance and upgrades, while separating the roles of owner, manager and developer.
Macpherson, a Democratic Alliance leader, said the party “believes in using state assets to create generational wealth”.
The company would be used to realise home ownership for South Africans who require shelter and might not be able to afford it, he said.
Ownership would be improved through a digitised asset register that covers ownership, leases, valuation and performance.
He said the model would enable partnerships with private developers to drive mixed-use projects and reduce reliance on costly leases by shifting state spending toward assets that appreciate over time.
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As an example, Macpherson used the Government Precinct Programme in Tshwane, saying its first phase comprises 30 projects, more than one million square metres of development and roughly R33 billion in investment.
Government has long been under pressure to improve management of public property and use state assets to create economic opportunities, including for historically disadvantaged participants in the property sector.
Timelines and the final governance structure for the new entity have not yet been announced.
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