R100m Eastern Cape project built only 40 houses over 10 years

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19-09-2022
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News 24
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It took 10 years for the Eastern Cape human settlements department to build 40 houses in Matatiele. 

The project was meant to build 450 units.

The department blamed a contractor, which has since been liquidated.   

An Eastern Cape government-funded housing project, which kicked off in 2012 to build 450 houses for the poor in Matatiele, has only managed to complete 40 houses, despite having reportedly spent over R100 million on the job. 

The unfinished housing project is at Mehloloaneng Village in Matatiele's Ward 16.

Concerned villagers told News24 how criminals used the unfinished houses to run illegal operations.

The human settlements department, which is in charge of the project, disputed this. They said their target was, in fact, 898 houses and that they had managed to complete 205 houses. The department's claim was vehemently denied by local residents, an ANC ward councillor and the opposition DA.

Asked why the houses were not finished after 10 years, the department's Caswell Mabunda said the main contractor demonstrated poor performance because of a lack of financial and human resources. 

Mabunda said:

The main contractor, subcontracted the work to another contractor to continue with the project, who also performed poorly. Later, the main contractor was liquidated and, in terms of the Public Finance Management Act, the department had to terminate the contract.

He added that in trying to complete the project using the available funds, the department then divided the project into two phases for the remaining 693 units. 

Phase one would build 202 units, while phase two would construct 491 units. 

He said phase one was currently in the tendering stage and that the anticipated completion date for the project was 31 March 2025.  

About the scope of work, Mabunda said the construction was for 898 housing units of 40m2 size, with two bedrooms, an open plan kitchen and lounge, with ventilated improved pit latrine and 2.5kl rainwater tank, with harvesting goods. 

He said the houses would be installed with electricity, plastered, painted internally and externally, fitted with ceilings and completed with a 1 000mm concrete slab around the house. 

Villagers who asked not to be named in fear of victimisation, maintained that only 40 houses have been completed in the area.

"I have been staying here for decades. I was here when the project started. Only 40 houses were completed. It is a lie that they built more than 200. We were informed that the department aimed to build 450 houses, not 800. It's a fob off. They are not telling the truth," one villager said.

Two DA councillors told News24 that more than R100 million had been spent, but Mabunda denied this, saying only R45 million was spent so far.

Mabunda did not provide any proof or receipts to substantiate his claims.

Asked for the view of the municipality and whether the department saw value for money in the project, Mabunda said: 

It is a norm in the construction industry, a contractor who has failed to perform, will be subject to termination. There were many attempts to appoint a replacement contractor, but it was non-responsive. Although there were delays encountered, to date, a total of 205 units have been completed and others are in various stages of construction, therefore value for money has been created.

In his breakdown of the spend, Mabunda said the entire project of 898 houses was meant to cost just over a R121 million .

Opposition parties are up in arms over the poor housing delivery coupled with shoddy workmanship and substandard houses being built.

The DA plans to report the failed project to Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane. 

DA councillors Wonga Potwana and Tshepo Sheane, visited the abandoned housing project site last month, to see the state of affairs for themselves.  

"We were shocked, we can't believe that it would take 10 years to build just 40 houses," said Potwana.

"The project started in Mehloloaneng Village in 2012, but has so far completed 40 RDP houses. That is beyond dismal. This ANC has continued degrading the lives of black people in this area," Potwana added. 

Potwana said he has urged the mayor, Sonwabile Mngenela, to engage with the human settlements MEC to get to the bottom of the problem.   

However, Numerous attempts to reach Mngenela were unsuccessful.

Sheane said it was a violation of human rights to expect poor people to wait 10 years to receive much needed houses. 

"It is so sad to realise that, in some of the sites, the unfinished houses were the last hope for those poor souls. Some of these [unoccupied and unfinished] houses are now being used as crime nests."

He added that after speaking to the community, he found that they had lost trust in "the government of empty promises".

Three beneficiaries of the houses, who asked not to be named, joined the chorus of voices who dismissed the claim that 205 units had been completed in the area.

The ANC councillor in Ward 16, Lungisani Nkamba, was also adamant that only 40 houses had been completed for the community of Mehloloaneng Village.

"I am very disappointed at the department because as a local representative of the community elected by the people to ensure that they get service delivery, I end up looking like a useless human being for something that I have no control over. This is a project of the Department of Human Settlements," said Nkamba. 

News24 can confirm that human settlements officials visited the village on Thursday for the first time in years, following News24's enquiries into the project. 

Nkamba, who said he'd worked hard in his two terms as councillor to convince the department to resuscitate the project, said he was disappointed to learn from the officials that the remainder of the houses would be completed in phases, and not in one go.

"I had thought since it's been 10 years, they would just finish the project. I spent years engaging the head of the department and senior managers about this project, all in vain."