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Amatola Sun – Another example of poor maintenance of local government assets

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Government needs to take strong action to ensure that its assets are properly maintained. This requires strong leadership. Stop wasting money on things that are not necessary to have. Start prioritising the real needs of the people.

We need to work smarter. Let’s take the former Amatola Sun Hotel. Just over five years ago we as a government purchased the building that used to house the Amatola Sun Hotel. I have no idea why we did it, but I do know we paid R10-million for it.

Today it’s a dilapidated building, stripped by vandals, while we are paying security services hundreds of thousands of rand to patrol and protect the building.

We are also paying rates and taxes and other related fees on a building that we will most probably not be able to sell at a fraction of a price we purchased it for.

Let’s be smart.  As a government we are not in the property business. Leave this to the experts. Leave it to the entrepreneurs. At the best this was fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

Government needs to get its priorities right. We cannot waste scare resources buying asset that simply go to reach and ruin. These resources cold better be utilised to alleviate poverty in this province which is our number one problem.

As the spokesperson on public works I will be monitoring very closely the issue of what assets we have an how they are being maintenance and whether or not they should be retained. I have asked a parliamentary question on this matter.

Leadership and smart government required that we do more with what we have and waste less on what we don’t need. The Amatole Sun is a classic point case in point.

Pine Pienaar, MPL

Amatola Sun
The Amatola Sun Hotel today. Image: Pine Pienaar

Editor’s Notes: What a bloody disgrace – tear the building down, and give the land to someone to develop.

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Port Elizabethan

This author is a 'catch-all' for occasional articles and letters written to MyPE. The Author of each article can be found in the signature at the bottom of each individual article.

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