Pac Accuses Mysc Of Waste
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Monday August 10, 2020 13:23
PAC members last Wednesday questioned the MYSC’s procurement strategy, which they said has cost the Ministry millions in rental fees to property developers for unoccupied offices.
Member of Parliament (MP) for Nata/Gweta, Polson Majaga cited the Ministry’s rented office in Kasane while Tonota legislator, Pono Moatlhodi mentioned cases relating to offices owned by RDC Properties, First Y2K Company and SAH Company, which he said were picked by an audit of the Ministry’s financials.
It is said that the Ministry has been paying rental for an unoccupied office in Kasane for the past three years.
“We are also informed that your Ministry has a tendency of procuring incomplete structures, then those structures are completed through the money that you pay before you occupy those buildings. We are told that you even pay for the extensions of those buildings as if they are yours, kindly tell us if this is true or not?” Francistown West MP, Wynter Mmolotsi asked rhetorically.
It is said that the Ministry is also paying rental for unoccupied property without an existing lease agreement.In response, the MYSC’s accounting officer, Permanent Secretary, Kago Ramokate conceded that the issues were raised by the audit.
However, he denied the Ministry runs a scheme to finance property developers. He said there is an explanation for all the cases. The explanation that I have for these buildings that we are occupying is that the Ministry did express interest in occupying them and we went through the due process, which is set by the Ministry of Lands.
The process resulted in us occupying the buildings,” Ramokate said. “One of my observations from reading the reports and where some of the questions might be emanating from, is that we take time before we occupy buildings and paying rent before moving in.” Ramokate added that the problem is that the buildings are handed to the Ministry as shells without any partitions.
“As a tenant, you are expected to do the partitioning, which can take two to three months. During that time, we are expected to pay rent according to the guidance that we are getting. The longer it takes to partition, the longer we continue to pay without occupying. That’s why the district office was paying rent for the building it was occupying in the Main Mall, while partitioning was ongoing at the new building,” he added.
Ramokate said there are also issues relating to the dates around signing of leases and occupation of buildings. He said in most cases the dates do not tally, but they have in many instances been given permission by the land authorities as to when they could occupy the buildings.
While he admitted that the Ministry has in other instances made errors in relation to the specifications of the buildings they seek to occupy, on the contrary MYSC has not funded property developers to build their own buildings.
Ramokate said where government funds have been lost they would make a case for its recovery. It is not the first time that the issue of payment of rental fees by government departments for unoccupied buildings has been raised by the PAC.
Reports in the past have emerged that the Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security had lost close to P10 million in rental fees for an unoccupied building in the CBD.