Joint media statement: Minister Macpherson hands over two properties in Malmesbury to be used for victims of drug and substance abuse
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This morning, ahead of the Department’s Budget Vote, Minister Dean Macpherson handed over two state-owned properties in Malmesbury to the Western Cape Government to be used for support services for individuals recovering from substance use disorders (SUDs).
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This reflects the Minister’s commitment to ensuring public assets are used for the public good, and signals a shift in the Department’s role from passive custodian to active driver of social impact and frontline service delivery.
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Western Cape MEC for Social Development, Jaco Londt, welcomed the handover, noting that the property will be used as a step-down facility by an NGO to address the growing need for SUD support in the region, and praised the collaboration with the Department of Public Works & Infrastructure to help vulnerable residents find healing.
As part of the build-up activities to the Department of Public Works & Infrastructure’s Budget Vote on Wednesday afternoon, the Minister of Public Works & Infrastructure, earlier in the morning, handed over two properties to be used for support services for those battling with substance use disorders (SUDs) to the Western Cape Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Social Development, Jaco Londt. This forms part of the Minister’s commitment to ensure that no state-owned property lies idle in communities, but is rather utilised for the public good.
Minister Macpherson said that since taking office, 17 properties have now been handed over to be used as shelters for Gender-Based Violence (GBV) victims, including victims of drug and substance abuse, in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, and the Western Cape. By contrast, from 2019 to 2025, the Department had only handed over two properties to be used as GBV shelters.
“As I will unpack in my Budget Address this afternoon, we have reinvigorated the Department of Public Works & Infrastructure from merely playing a maintenance role to one of frontline service delivery—using public assets for the public good. The days of public properties lying idle in communities, attracting crime and degradation, are coming to an end,” said Minister Macpherson.
“As the Department of Public Works & Infrastructure, we are also eager to play our part in addressing the issue of Gender-Based Violence in our society head-on. We are therefore grateful that, by handing this property over to the Western Cape Department of Social Development, we are contributing towards providing shelter for the most vulnerable in our society.”
MEC Londt said, “This is the seventh property the national Department of Public Works and Infrastructure is availing to the Western Cape Department of Social Development as part of its mandate to address GBV. The Western Cape was the first province to utilise the previous six properties from DPWI as shelters for victims of GBV. Our department has committed to create a more sustainable environment for NGOs to thrive and this is another step in utilising government assets for public good. Further conversations with both our national and provincial colleagues to strengthen this are ongoing.”
“We have seen the correlation between substance abuse and GBV, thus this latest property in Malmesbury will be used by an NGO to serve as a safe space for those recovering from Substance Use Disorders. The proposal currently on the table is for the property to be used as a step-down facility due to the growing need for support services for SUD sufferers in this region. This space will be crucial in providing new hope for families in need. I wish to thank Minister Macpherson and the DPWI for their commitment to helping vulnerable residents find support and healing.”
Enquiries:
James de Villiers
Spokesperson to the Minister
Cell: 082 766 0276
E-mail: james.devilliers@dpw.gov.za
Monique Mortlock-Malgas
Spokesperson to the MEC
E-mail: Monique.mortlock@westerncape.gov.za
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