The multimillion-rand Clayville extension 45 social housing mega project in Tembisa, Ekurhuleni, has been abandoned and vandalised. The project was for the development and construction of 452 social housing units for residents of Clayville, Tembisa, and the surrounding areas.
The Ekurhuleni Housing Company (EHC) said planning for the project started in 2017, while construction started in April 2019. According to the City of Ekurhuleni website, more than R500 million was needed to complete each phase of construction. But the project has been abandoned, and community members are vandalising it.
Dilapidated structures
When The Citizen visited the site, we found several large, dilapidated structures. Some parts of the walls of the buildings were collapsing, and some had been vandalised, with windows and door frames removed.
Corruption-fighting group Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) called on the authorities to investigate why the project was abandoned and to punish those who contributed to its failure.
Wayne Duvenage, CEO of Outa, said: “There’s something fundamentally horribly wrong there and it needs to be investigated.
“People need to be held accountable, so if those in higher positions of authority are not doing anything about it, then they are the problem.”
Duvenage said it seemed this had been going on for a long time, which would make it difficult to determine who was responsible and who had done anything untoward. Then, they should be held to account.
“This is something the auditor-general, Tsakani Maluleke, hopefully has flagged. It’s an issue that should be taken to court if it can. It should be done by the authorities, by the administration itself. But normally they don’t because they know the people who are implicated.
“It is a sad and sick reality of government across many municipalities, many departments, national, provincial and local.”
‘No one held accountable’
Duvenage said in most cases, projects were started and then abandoned. He said tender-holders are paid in advance, and some run off with the money, or they only deliver the job in part.
“No one is held accountable, and that’s because the leaders in this country in government have difficulty in holding people to account, which is one of the weaknesses that we have right up to the top, right up to the president.
“Sadly, it’s almost a culture that’s built into the government under the ANC. Until we can fix that, until we can address it and start holding people accountable, until we can make procurement transparent, we will be hearing stories of this nature for years to come.”
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He said the situation was affecting the poor, who suffer the most in these situations.
“I hope some officials do something about this. If they don’t, then they are the problem.”
A resident, who asked not to be named, said when he arrived in the area in 2019, construction was underway.
“They were building, and later they stopped. After some years, they came back and continued until they disappeared for good in 2023.
“There are criminals hiding in those buildings, and they come and steal from us at night. If the government knows that they will no longer be able to finish this, they should just demolish it.”
Why Ekurhuleni project was abandoned
When asked why the project was abandoned, EHC conceded that the project stopped because they ran out of funds.
“The initial project value was R239 million. The Social Housing Regulatory Authority approved the consolidated capital grant of R122 million. The City of Ekurhuleni has approved a budget of R101 million over the medium-term revenue and expenditure framework period.”
EHC said construction stopped due to delays in the implementation of the project, following challenges experienced with the onset of the Covid pandemic, community disruptions, slow contractor performance and an increase in the budget required to complete the project.
“The project stopped because of budget constraints. The initial completion date was 4 June, 2021.”
Asked why there was no security on the site, EHC said the budget for security on the project was provided with the contractor appointment for the implementation of the project. It stated that when the project came to a standstill, there was no contractor on site.
“The expenditure to date is R122 million, including VAT. A budget of R238 million is required to complete the project.
“The initial completion date was 4 June, 2021. Following the appointment of a new consultant and contractor, the revised completion date was December 2023.”
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– masoka@citizen.co.za
