Government Printing Works ‘waste’: Machine still in its box 10 years after being bought

Opinions within parliament are divided over the Government Printing Works (GPW). ActionSA has referred to the GPW as a collapsing entity, while the Ministry of Home Affairs believes the entity is on the up.

Issues with the department could perhaps be best represented by a piece of equipment the ministry admits has gone unused in 10 years.

R1.7 billion generated for fiscus

The GPW has done the printing for government departments for over 100 years.

ActionSA performed a site visit to the printing works recently and raised concerns about a possible national security threat posed by the outsourcing of critical jobs and alleged underused staff in a poor work environment.

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Home Affairs responded by stating that GPW was a revenue-generating entity that had not received an allocation from the fiscus since 2013.

“National Treasury has to date, taken over R1.7 billion from GPW’s surplus, and these funds had been transferred to the National Revenue Fund to support other ailing entities,” stated their response.

“GPW remains liquid with no imminent risk of collapse, and continues to generate revenue from customers located within South Africa, the SADC Region and other African countries,” it continued.

10 years of waiting idle

GPW’s primary revenue streams have gradually been moved from the Bosman Street factory to their Visagie Street premises, both near the Pretoria CBD.

There, they print travel documents, IDs, Gauteng education exam papers, packaging, rubber stamps and specialised security certification products.

The capacity of the printing works has dwindled over the years, with GPW experiencing severe loss after a server crash in 2021.

ALSO READ: Negligence, mismanagement blamed for server crash, data loss at Government Printing Works

An unrealised ‘GPW masterplan’ is over 10 years old, with a procurement blunder summing up the failed ambitions.

The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure had plans to renovate the Visagie Steet precinct and a new booklet printing machine was procured for the premises in 2014.

“This building never materialised, and as a result, this machine is still in the box in GPW premises because adequate space is required to house this machine due to its huge size,” the Home Affairs ministry explained.

GPW, a statutory body under the Department of Home Affairs, acknowledged The Citizen’s request for additional information but none had been forthcoming at the time of publication.

Printing and storage sites

GPW’s working machinery is housed at the Visagie Street site, while broken and out-of-warranty machines are at the “old dilapidated building” on Bosman Street.

“GPW has planned to dispose of these machines gradually over the MTDP period. Most officials have also been moved to the Visagie Street office,” stated the ministry.

“As GPW gears up for implementation of the Digital products, all the obsolete machines stationed in the Bosman Street office site had been earmarked for disposal,” they added.

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ActionSA’s Lerato Ngobeni was far from satisfied with the ministry’s response, telling The Citizen that the entity was far from operating at full capacity.

“The picture painted by the reply and what we experienced during our oversight visit do not correlate,” Ngobeni said.

“Had we not undertaken the oversight visit, perhaps the wool that the ministry’s response intends to pull over our eyes may have worked, but not after,” she exclaimed.

Retention of GPW funds

Ngobeni also requested full disclosure from the department regarding all outsourced printing contracts.

“The GPW has entered into service level agreements with all its service providers and suppliers, and the contracts are available within GPW,” Home Affairs responded.

The ActionSA parliamentarian pressed the department on how they planned to restore the GPW organisational capacity.

Prioritising a move away from the Bosman Street site, an improvement in governance and internal controls were sighted as immediate goals.

“The retention of GPW funds will enable the implementation of GPW’s commitments to ensure its sustainability,” concluded the DHA.

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