2011-05-31 09:00

Johannesburg – The public works department will spend about R750 000 to rent a house for Gauteng police commissioner Mzwandile Petros, The Star reported on Tuesday.

“Last month, the department hired Siyakula Logistics to provide a house at a cost of R31 042 a month, or R745 008 for the two-year contract,” the newspaper wrote.

The award was listed in the Tender Bulletin on Friday and the cost was confirmed by department officials.

The state provided Petros with housing because he did not apply for the position, but was transferred from his previous position as Western Cape provincial commissioner.

He was appointed in Gauteng September of last year.

Housing tender

The Star reported that the housing tender, issued in March, called for a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house in or around Rosebank, Melrose, Oaklands, Dunkeld, Killarney, Morningside, Houghton, Illovo or Saxonwold.

It also called for the house to have electronic access control and a “solid perimeter wall with a minimum height of two metres” with an electric fence on top.

The acquisition of the house followed a report by the Gauteng department of infrastructure development, in which revealed it had 780 state-owned houses in the province.

One of these houses, in Bryanston, which was previously occupied by Mzwandile Kibi, deputy director-general of the department of infrastructure development, “appears to have all the features to accommodate Petros,” The Star wrote.

The provincial government owned 826 state houses across six regions, but only 46 tenants had signed lease agreements.

In February, infrastructure development MEC Bheki Nkosi promised to act against those who were illegally occupying government houses.

“He issued a March deadline, but apparently has yet to act on his promise.”