The provincial Public Works Department (DPW) has responded to calls to account for badly vandalised and derelict buildings that have become havens for criminals in parts of Makhanda.
DA ward 8 councillor Cary Clark recently said the properties have deteriorated, been badly vandalised, had fire damage and have just been left by DPW to degrade and attract bad elements into areas where there are schools with young children and residential neighbourhoods.
She said this not only showed a town in decay, but the neglect of aesthetics and heritage.
During an oversight recently, the DA's Frontier Constituency leader Jane Cowley slammed the DPW for "absolute" lack of accountability. "I mean, this is a tragic waste of infrastructure," Cowley said.
Dr Malcolm Figg, who is the shadow MEC for Public Works in the province, would table the issue of the buildings for discussion in the provincial legislature.
Responding this week, DPW Communications director Vuyani Nkasayi, said the department has various processes dealing with state-owned buildings to be utilised for various purposes in line with its mandate.
This includes properties identified for revenue generation and socio-economic purposes.
Properties identified for revenue generation purposes involve the disposal or leasing out of the buildings for short-term or long-term, Nkasayi explained.
"The socio-economic purposes involve allocating the buildings to other government departments such as the Department of Social Development for GBVF Centres or disposing of such properties to local municipalities for community development in line with Immovable Asset Management Policy."
The buildings in question
Nkasayi says the provincial department has four vandalised properties in Makhanda under its custodianship and these are as follows.