Taxpayers paid R65 million for more than 1,000 vacant government owned properties

VAAL TRIANGLE - The Public Servants Association has expressed concern about the recent revelation by government that taxpayers have paid R65-million in rates and services for more than one-thousand vacant state-owned properties. The association’s Claude Naiker says as of January, there were 1,259 state-owned vacant lands, 207 unoccupied houses, and 830 abandoned farms that remain unallocated for utilisation. He says government is potentially losing an estimated R83-million in revenue by not leasing out these properties.