When members of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) arrived in Khutsong on Friday for an oversight visit to investigate the area’s growing sinkhole crisis, they were met not only by cracked streets and cordoned-off yards, but by a community demanding to be heard.
The visit by the Select Committee on Public Petitions and Executive Undertakings followed a 2024 petition by residents calling for the area to be declared a disaster zone due to escalating sinkholes in Khutsong, near Carletonville, which fall under the Merafong City local municipality.
But before the committee could proceed to the inspection sites, frustrated residents blocked the delegation at Sampane Drive, insisting they be included in the walkabout.
“We raised this petition,” said community activist Abie Malefo, “how do you conduct a progress oversight without involving the very people who submitted the petition? There are new sinkholes. There are houses cracking that the committee don’t even know about.”
Merafong City Local Municipality mayor Nozuko Best said Merafong has 20 active sinkholes recorded on its register, 12 in Khutsong alone. The geological instability has been linked to dolomitic ground conditions, ageing water infrastructure and hydrological changes related to historic mining activity.
In August last year, the Gauteng department of cooperative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) classified the situation as a provincial disaster in terms of the Disaster Management Act.
Projects under way include emergency sinkhole stabilisation, rerouting of wet services to prevent ground saturation, sewer and water infrastructure upgrades and a housing relocation programme in Khutsong South Ext 5, where 507 houses have been completed.
Yet on the ground, fear lingers.
At Kompane Drive, Malebo Thamaga stands inside his three-bedroom home, pointing to cracks running along the walls. He said a small water pipe burst in the street months ago but was not repaired in time. When heavy rains came, the ground gave way.
“My house is like this because of negligence from the municipality,” he said. “The pipe was leaking. They didn’t fix it. When it rained, everything went south. Five houses were damaged.”
Best said that residents in high-risk areas have been encouraged to relocate for safety reasons, but some have refused due to concerns about the size of government-subsidised houses.
“They want to move me from my big house to an RDP,” Thamaga said. “How do I take my mother, my brother and two children into a small house? It’s like leaving a proper home to go stay in a shack.”
His mother and brother have moved in with relatives, but he stays behind to guard the property. “When it rains, I don’t sleep. I worry something will happen. But I can’t leave, they will steal my things,” Thamaga told Sunday Times.
A large hall has been designated as a disaster storage centre for affected families, but residents allege theft and poor security.
The human cost of the crisis is visible at Tirisano Care Centre, where a sinkhole formed two months ago. The building has since collapsed, leaving only one prefabricated structure standing.
Parents gathered outside the centre described the closure as devastating.
“This is painful to watch. People have lost their jobs. Parents don’t know where to take their children. It’s depriving small children access to education,” said Lerato Moloi.
Elsewhere in Khutsong, Koketso Mukayi recalls the night in 2024 when his car disappeared into the ground.
“It was raining the whole night. In the morning we heard a big bang,” said Mukayi “The front of my yard had opened up. My car had fallen inside.”
He paid for repairs himself. “Money I don’t even have,” he said. “This area should be considered a natural disaster but if they relocate us, let them give us proper houses.”
Committee chairperson Ofentse Mokae said the purpose of the visit was to assess whether recommendations made after the initial petition hearing had been implemented.
“We received a petition requesting parliament to intervene and declare the area a disaster,” Mokae said. “We do not have the power to declare a disaster, but we made recommendations and tabled a report in the NCOP. We are here to satisfy ourselves that interventions are taking place.”
He acknowledged that not all residents would be satisfied with the pace of implementation, but said cooperation between local, provincial and national government had improved.
Following the visit, the committee will deliberate and compile an assessment report.
Beyond the sinkholes themselves, residents repeatedly raised concerns about consultation, transparency and alleged maladministration within the municipality. They claim that last-minute clean-up efforts were made ahead of the oversight visit to present a better picture.
Provincial authorities have pointed to broader systemic challenges, including ageing infrastructure, limited funding mechanisms and fragmented institutional responsibilities.
A roundtable engagement in October 2025 confirmed that Gauteng faces increasing ground instability driven by persistent water leaks, mining-related groundwater shifts and inadequate development controls.
For Khutsong residents, however, the crisis is less about policy frameworks and more about daily survival.
“We are living in a traumatic situation,” said Tali Kwezi, who says each heavy rainfall brings renewed anxiety. “Every time it rains, we think, who is next?”
As the parliament convoy moved on to further inspections in Maselwane Road later that day, the ground in Khutsong remained fragile, both physically and socially.
“For a community built on some of the world’s deepest gold-mining land, the fear now is not what lies beneath in terms of mineral wealth, but what may collapse next,” said Kwezi.
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