South Africa is close to hiring a manager for its R148-billion property portfolio as it advances plans to establish a state-owned company to house its assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are finalising the appointment of a project manager or a programme director,\u201d public works and infrastructure minister Dean Macpherson said at a Foreign Correspondents\u2019 Association of Southern Africa event in Johannesburg on Friday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m confident in the next couple of weeks we\u2019ll be able to make that formal announcement,\u201d and it will be someone that is trusted and experienced, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The establishment of the South African National Property Company, which will oversee 88,000 buildings and five million hectares of land, was announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in his state-of-the-nation address in February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Work has also progressed on the structural and policy framework. \u201cWe\u2019re around 70% where we need to be to present the policy position for adoption,\u201d Macpherson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He wants the company to replicate the success of telecommunications firm Telkom by bringing in private-sector investors and strategic partners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is envisaged that the property company will eventually be listed and generate substantial dividends, the minister said.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Telkom was partially privatised in 2003 via an initial public offering on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, with the government retaining a 41% stake and has a dividend payout ratio of 37.5%<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Macpherson said his department plans to start disposing of at least 801 mostly residential properties in the current financial year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI cannot accept that we own 88,000 properties, and we never dispose of any of them,\u201d he said. \u201cI have directed the department\u201d to get them onto the market, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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