Shabangu lets building to police watchdog

2011-11-02 11:37

Johannesburg - The public works department made another expensive lease agreement with businessman Roux Shabangu, this time for the head office of the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD), according to a report on Wednesday.

Beeld newspaper reported that the police watchdog body had spent R15.6m on rent in the 2010/2011 financial year for its headquarters in Pretoria.

This was up by nearly 400% from the year before - when the bill was R4.2m - apparently because of the lease agreement with Shabangu.

ICD head Francois Beukman told Parliament on Tuesday that the ICD had moved to the new building, owned by Shabangu, last year.

He said the lease agreement was concluded by the department of public works.

Former Public Works Minister Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde was sacked from Cabinet last week.

This came after the public protector found that she had acted unlawfully in approving multi-million rand lease agreements with Shabangu for police headquarters in Pretoria and Durban.

- SAPA