About Real Estate Department
Real estate is defined as “Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; (also) an item of real property; (more generally) buildings or housing in general. Also: the business of real estate; the profession of buying, selling, or renting land, buildings or housing”. (Oxford Dictionary)
The core function of the department is to analyse the City’s property portfolio so that sound strategies can be developed for each property segment. These strategies aim to ensure that the social, environmental and economic benefits of the portfolio are maximised for the benefit of residents.
Current Projects in Real Estate for Job Creation and Revenue Enhancement
| Programme | Description/details | |
| 1 | Revenue Enhancement on cellular masts | Leases approved in-principle for mass scale installation of cellular masts |
| 2 | Revenue enhancements on outdoor advertising | Regularisation of compliant billboards without lease agreements |
| 3 | Revenue enhancements on telecoms equipment on the rooftops of the City’s buildings | Regularisation of compliant telecoms equipment on our rooftops without lease agreements, as well as consideration of approval for new leases |
| 4 | Revenue enhancement on lettable facilities | Leasing of unutilised council owned property to private investors to generate revenue |
| 5 | Revenue enhancement on expired lease portfolio | Renewal of expired leases where compliance allows |
| 6 | Release of Strategic Land Parcels on mega projects | Batches of strategic land parcels approved by Council for release to investors for large scale mega developments |
| 7 | Development of Township economy | Pockets of land around CoE approved for small scale commercial/business s development |
| 8 | Release of land in Duduza for a shopping mall | Land approved by Council to be advertised in an open and transparent tender process for development of a shopping mall |
| 9 | Release of land in Nigel for a Steel Factory | Lease approved by Council for the development of a steal factory |
Divisions
Office of the HoD
Manyane Chidi’s career in the property environment started in Nedcor Property Finance, working in commercial and industrial property finance.
This was followed by a stint as an Assistant Director (Housing Finance) in Gauteng Department of Housing; Deputy Director (Investment Analysis) at the National Department of Public Works; Senior Manager (Portfolio Analysis) at the City of Joburg Property Company (JPC).
He is a Professional Valuer and an Incorporate Member of the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB (UK)). In 2014 he was appointed by the State President as the Sworn Appraiser to the Tax Court of the Republic of SA. His areas of interest include conducting project feasibility studies on development leases as the “only” viable way to go for development in South African metros.
He is the current Head of Department HOD) of Real Estate at the City of Ekurhuleni responsible for the management of council-owned portfolio of immovable property, encompassing land management, facilities management, construction and property development. This involves a portfolio of 53 000 properties valued at R13bn.
In his illustrious career in the City, Chidi has been part of a collective that obtained a string of unqualified audits, including five clean audits in two terms as well as a prestigious AAA+ rating from Moody’s ratings agency.
Chidi is on his second term as a member of SA Council for Property Valuers Profession after being appointed by the Minister of Public Works. He chaired the Public Relations & Marketing Committee as well as the Financial Committee (the latter of which he is still chairing).
He has Master of Science (Real Estate) from the University of Pretoria, a BCom (Hons) from Vista University and a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from the University of Witwatersrand.
His immediate area of research is to do a troubleshooting study that will look into positioning Ekurhuleni as the City to do business with, with innovative ways of generating revenue and job creation by means of long-term leaseholds.
Manyane’s next career step is to offer consulting on the use of drone technology to do mapping, GIS, property inspections, agricultural inspection and project management.
Property Development
The Property Development Division is mainly responsible for managing newly built construction and refurbishment projects, including the provision and refurbishment of existing office space. The Divisional Head position is currently vacant
Facilities Management
Divisional Head Jeffrey Senoelo runs the Facilities Management Division, responsible for the development of maintenance plans for maintenance planning of existing building infrastructure is one of the functions of this section.
Property Management and Portfolio Advisory Services
Andrica Lekganyane is the Divisional Head of the Property Management & Portfolio Advisory Services Division. This function looks at the management of enquiries on property; management of customer and tenant interface; oversight of the department’s portfolio; conducting of property inspections;
Support Services
Acting Senior Executive Manager, Lifa Majola heads up the Support Services Division that is responsible for strategy and planning, governance and compliance conducted at Real Estate corporate office.
