The Metro’s Bad Buildings Mayoral Sub-Committee recently unveiled the refurbished Lesedi Building on Madiba Street in Pretoria Central.

Formerly known as Avbob Midtown, MMC for Corporate and Shared Services Kholofelo Morodi, who is also the Bad Buildings Committee Chairperson, said that this unveiling clearly demonstrates the administration’s commitment to building in-house capacity.

She stated that the administration will do this by utilising municipal assets, reducing dependence on costly commercial leases.

She added that this is a major cost-saving initiative that will save the city millions previously spent on expensive rentals.

“For many years, the city has been constrained by excessive rental costs associated with privately leased buildings, diverting resources away from critical infrastructure and frontline services.

“The completion and occupation-readiness of the Lesedi Building reflect a deliberate shift towards responsible governance, long-term sustainability, and strategic asset management,” Morodi said.

The project has now reached full completion with the occupational certificate officially issued, enabling the immediate occupation of the facility by key service delivery departments.

This modernised eight-storey facility, with 88 underground parking bays, will now house the Water and Sanitation Department, the ICT Department, and Corporate GIS.

These departments form the administrative backbone of several essential services and centralising them within a city-owned building will reportedly enhance co-ordination, productivity and operational stability.

“We reaffirm our commitment to providing safe, suitable and empowering work environments for all employees.

“When our staff have the right conditions to perform, our residents experience better service delivery, and that remains our ultimate priority,” she said.

She thanked the mayor’s involvement in the project and said that cost-saving measures such as this will go a long way in enhancing service delivery.

“We appreciate the mayor’s support for the reforms aimed at building a capable, efficient and service-driven administration. The successful delivery of this project shows what is possible when leadership is united around the goal of restoring stability and sustainability in the city,” Morodi said.

Tshwane Mayor, Dr Nasiphi Moya, said the operation of Lesedi House follows a decision to adopt a plan to reduce what the city spends on office space, by using city-owned buildings.

“We made a promise to cut costs and reduce reliance on service providers and instead build internal capacity. Reducing rental space is a key component of ensuring the city spends money on things that matter: service delivery.

“Today, we delivered on that promise with the opening of Lesedi House – a newly renovated building that will house 450 City of Tshwane staff members,” Moya said.

The mayor believes the city will save about R24-million every year by cancelling unnecessary leases for office space.

“This is not the first building we’ve done this year; we’ve done it at Middestad, at [Chistiaan] de Wet, and the whole point is to reduce the cost of doing business internally. We spend a lot of money on leasing properties just for our staff,” she said.

“Over the past year, we’ve reduced that by R100-million, on leases alone. Just by the project at [Chistiaan] de Wet and Middestad.

Moya said they “must move with the times regarding accommodating human capital and maximising it as well. You are moving from single departments occupying a single building, whereas now we want to integrate our teams”.

“As you can see here, it’s more than one department based at this house, and now we are starting this integration and collaboration culture [among] our employees. We’ve seen at Middestad, where you get different departments in [their] own space and in Tshwane House,” she said.

Watch here: https://x.com/i/status/1987822745048985633.

New era. New energy. New Office Space💡@CityTshwane

We’ve launched Lesedi House—a repurposed, cost-smart space powering 450+ city staff.
No waste. No frills. Just service-first governance that delivers.

✅ Shared Services + Water & Sanitation = activated
✅ TMPD upgrades =… pic.twitter.com/TqMTWOrlOZ

— Kholofelo Morodi (@kholofeloMorodi) November 10, 2025

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