The establishment of the State Property Management Agency, which will oversee the management of government’s massive property portfolio, has been approved.

The announcement was made at the post-Cabinet media briefing in Cape Town on Thursday.

Minister of Public Works, Thulas Nxesi, explained that the agency was aimed at professionalising the state property portfolio, saving costs for client departments and improving government services to the public by improving the quality of public buildings.

Nxesi said the agency would ensure more productive use of vacant properties, because there were many unutilised properties across the country, especially in small towns and cities.
He said the intention was also to create employment.

“In terms of our strategy, we have indicated that the first thing which we will have to do is employ qualified property managers, property economists and property lawyers. You would appreciate that we are talking about a very massive portfolio.

“And we also have to employ and get funding to employ an army of property managers and all those experts in this particular area.”

Nxesi said, in terms of facilities management, the department was working with the Departments of Trade and Industry and Small Business Development to establish cooperatives and support small business.

“We have started opening our own workshops as the DPW where were we are doing some revival of the main centres.”

The agency will also be responsible for the real estate division, which is part of leasing out unutilised buildings.

He said performance contracts will be signed with those experienced property professionals which are employed to the agency.

“We are also going to retrain our existing staff in property management. We are already designing courses on property management with universities,” he said.

The Minister said the agency was not an entity with a board – it would report directly to the Ministry, the Minister, Deputy Minister and the Director General. This was to ensure better management of the massive state property value.

The department is expected to have a comprehensive briefing on the new agency next week.