Free State Education in a Rental Saga

Staff reporter

Bloemfontein – The Department of Education in Free State is in the spotlight over the lease of the N8 building in Estoire, in Bloemfontein.

The building in question was initially catering to examination papers, and now it is used by housing officials who were moved from the old building.

STEPUPSANEWS has it on good authority that there is a payment dispute with litigation on the cards.

The borne of contention according to sources, the owners of the building extended the building and as soon as construction was done, the Education Department moved staff to offices outside what had been agreed upon.

With payment not coming through for additional offices, owners are taking the Free State Provincial Government to court over nonpayment of additional spaces occupied.

The continuous occupation of the N8 Building is raising eyebrows as a building that was earmarked as an examination center has been fully renovated but remains empty.

Several visits to the building by this team show the building has been fully renovated as early as February 2023.

WATCH:

Howard Ndaba, spokesperson for Free State Education redirected this publication to Public Works and Infrastructure.

“The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure is responsible for the administration of Offices and sourcing of any additional offices on leased properties.

The current space that is being utilized by the Department of Education has been occupied since the day of relocation into new premises and it is in line with the layout plan that was approved by both Accounting Officers, FSDoE and DPW&I respectively.”

With regards to how much the department was paying before the additional offices and now after additional occupation, Ndaba again pointed at Public Works despite Education being the end user.

“The rental costs for the premises are contained within the Lease Agreement which is Administered by the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure as the custodian department.”

This is the same department that spent over R600 million on math labs that AGSA declared irregular, R10 million on three events with split invoices and now failing to implement a PSC report that is 22 months old.

This is a developing story.

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