Government owns 120000 to 130000 properties worth about R140bn. These include buildings such as magistrates' courts, prisons and residences as well as vacant plots of land.

There are opportunities for black property entrepreneurs as government has made it clear that economic empowerment will be key to any disposal strategy.

Themba Camane, deputydirector general in charge of operations in the public works department, says that although government disposes of properties in the normal course of business an overarching strategy should be ready in the next month or two.

"One of the key objectives of the public works department is to transform the property industry . The key to that is to ensure meaningful participation of black economic empowerment companies."

Camane says government would first look at each administrative level national, provincial and local and decide whether a property could be utilised by any of these parties. "If the property cannot be utilised by any of the spheres of government, then we would regard the property as a candidate for disposal," he says.

The department's Pretoria regional office is going to hold a workshop tomorrow with stakeholders from the industry .

At a business breakfast hosted by the South African Institute of Black Property Practitioners last week, Lydia Bici, deputy directorgeneral of policy development in the public works department, said the strategy would focus on disposing of properties over three to five years.