Premier's house costs little over R821 000 in upgrades

The Department of Public Works has said that only R821 000 has been spent on upgrades to the Parkside residence of Willies Mchunu, KwaZulu-Natal Premier. Ravi Pillay, Public Works MEC  said this was contrary to reports of a “splurge of R32 million”. The Parkside residence is used for conferencing, meetings and is accessible to other departments for use. The Premier has his personal home in Durban where he resides, the provincial government said. “The investigation will determine whether work done was necessary and whether proper tender processes were followed in the awarding of contracts for this purpose. It will further seek to determine whether value for money was achieved in the performance of the contract,” the Premier said.

Mchunu said the Parkside master-plan will also be assessed in order to establish the necessity of all further work identified or still to be identified. He said the findings of this investigation will be reported to the Provincial Cabinet and Legislature and to the public. “In the meantime, no further work will be proceeded with as we want to take into account the sentiments expressed by all concerned,” the Premier said. Pillay, whose Department is the custodian of all official state properties in the Province said the reported R32 million is a projected and an estimated figure over a seven-year period based on the Master Plan report of Infrastructure refurbishment. Pillay said the projected cost of the renovations were as a results of an exercise carried out by a professional team. The projected costs for the renovations of the Parkside Residence are spread over a period of seven years and are in line with stipulations of Amafa Heritage Council regarding buildings that are over 60 years of age.

The Department of Public Works has been constantly receiving ad hoc requests for the upgrading of this 137 year old facility. A need arose to consolidate all these requests for complete renovations was reviewed and a full conditional assessment to audit all the maintenance requirements was undertaken in 2015. The size of the property is 31 832 square metres (3, 1832 hectares) with buildings comprising of the main house, two conference facilities, staff quarters and office facilities. This is a prestige heritage property built in 1880 for Theophilus Shepstone, Native Affairs Commissioner. In 1942, it was acquired by the Administrator of Natal as an official residence and in 1994 transferred to the property portfolio of the democratic government.

The main building is a Pietermaritzburg Red Brick Victorian structure. Over the period of 137 years, the building has deteriorated. In 2013 after a storm, the roof collapsed necessitating a major repair. Various other repairs were done on an ad hoc basis, leading to a presentation and discussion at Portfolio Committee.