The Competition Commission has for almost a year been paying R890,000 a month to lease an office block in Pretoria that it is yet to occupy.
In March last year, the competition watchdog entered a lease agreement for additional office space at the department of trade, industry & competition (DTIC) campus in Sunnyside, Pretoria. According to its 2023/2024 annual report released this week, the duration of the lease is three years and entails payment of R34.5m.
By the end of February, the commission would have paid almost R10m for an empty office block — which sources in the commission describe as fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
The disclosure follows allegations of poor leadership levelled at the head of the commission, Doris Tshepe, by aggrieved staffers last year. She is also accused by some in the private sector of pushing through rulings that harm the economy.
Competition Commission spokesperson Siyabulela Makunga acknowledged the entity has been paying R890,000 a month in rent since April 2024 but had yet to use the offices because renovations were required.
He said the commission had needed more space because it had hired more staff. A lease agreement was signed with Delta Property Fund for offices in block G of the DTIC Sunnyside premises. The commission falls under the purview of the department.
“The signing of the lease agreement, as is standard in office lease agreements of this nature, was a prerequisite for the reconfiguration and refurbishment of the building to meet the office space requirements of the commission,” Makunga said.
“The commission took occupation of the building ... for the purpose of reconfiguration and refurbishment of the building. Since then, demolition of the existing partitioning in the building has been completed.”
It is not possible for staff of the commission to be moved into the building until the refurbishment and reconfiguration of the building has been completed by the service provider.
— Competition Commission spokesperson Siyabulela Makunga
The process of appointing someone to carry out the next step of renovation “is currently at the contracting stage”. Makunga would not comment on how long this work was expected to take, or when staff might move in.
The Commission will spend R12.1m on the reconfiguration and refurbishment of the building.
“It is not possible for staff of the commission to be moved into the building until the refurbishment and reconfiguration of the building has been completed by the service provider.”
Business Times reported in November last year that employees were unhappy with the way Tshepe was running the organisation. In 2023 they wrote a letter to the then minister, Ebrahim Patel, raising several grievances. They accused Thepe of neglecting her duties and “underperforming”.
They also flagged conflict of interest concerns as her husband, a prominent lawyer, had performed paid work for the commission. But that work has since stopped.
Makunga this week lashed out at those making the complaints, saying that while the commission was committed to transparency and accountability, it was concerned by “constant malicious disclosure of internal processes of the commission by a person(s) unknown to the commission with the intention of distracting the commission from its work and tarnishing its image”.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that the commission is still paying a former employee, international liaison specialist Precious Mathibe, who resigned in April last year and now works for a top university in the UK.
Makunga said Mathibe was still being remunerated because she had a contract with the commission to continue doing work for it on a part-time basis.
He said Mathibe’s new employer in the UK was not employing her full-time, and the agreement between Mathibe and the commission had been approved by the university.
“This arrangement followed confirmation from Ms Mathibe that her contract with her new employer was not for 100% of her time,” Makunga said.
Sources in the commission questioned the legality of this, with some saying Mathibe was being paid to perform work that she delegated to other employees.
Makunga said the duties of the post Mathibe had held at the commission — “international relations specialist” — included supporting the implementation of strategy and plans related to bilateral and multilateral agreements, supporting events that involved foreign countries and co-ordinating the commission’s contributions in international engagements. The person who held the post was responsible for the management of relations with foreign partners and stakeholders, among other functions.
“The commission sought to avoid a vacuum in this important function until a new specialist was appointed,” he said.
“In light of her experience and expertise in international relations, the commission identified Ms Mathibe as a suitable resource who can manage the transition whilst ensuring a continued focus on the management of key relations,” Makunga said.
He said Mathibe would also support the commission’s preparations for an upcoming conference in South Africa of competition authorities from Brics members.
Mathibe told Business Times she was working for the commission on a “temporary agreement that will remain in effect until a permanent appointment is made”.
She denied the claims that she was delegating her work to other staff at the commission. “As per the norm, my responsibilities and scope of work are managed by the divisional manager in the office of the commissioner. For this reason, I wish to leave comments on this matter to the commission.”
Makunga said Tshepe worked hand-in-hand with a handful of support staff and these included Mathibe. “The nature of relations between commissioner Tshepe and her support staff is professional and collegial. Ms Mathibe’s role in the office of the commissioner included the advancement of the international agenda of the commission.”
The body came under fire last year when it opposed the merger of Vodacom’s fibre business with that of fibre infrastructure group Maziv. The proposed merger would have seen Vodacom take a 30% stake in Maziv, which houses Remgro’s fibre units Vumatel and Dark Fibre Africa — together worth an estimated R13bn — with the option of increasing the stake to 40%.
However, the Competition Commission argued the transaction would prevent or lessen competition in several markets. This view was backed by the Competition Tribunal, which eventually blocked the deal.
The rulings were widely criticised by the private sector, and the minister of trade, industry & competition, Parks Tau — to whom the commission accounts — said he would appeal the tribunal’s decision. Vodacom and Remgro indicated they would also appeal.
Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub said at the time: “We are currently considering other strategic options, but I think it’s a travesty for South Africa that we’ve lost the opportunity for such a material investment, [with an estimated value] of between R14bn and R17bn, plus an additional R25bn in capex. So it’s a major, major loss for the South African fibre industry.”
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