In Mamelodi, Tshwane, a group of hostel dwellers are eagerly eyeing a nearby development of half-built "shack" housing units.
The 200-odd makeshift homes - part of the government's temporary residential unit (TRU) programme - are deserted. Builders left the site at the beginning of December and have not returned, saying R40m paid to them has been used up.
Their contracts were to erect 1,000 units for R64m.
The temporary structures are built with corrugated iron sheets. Some have been partially constructed, without roofs. Others are just frames. None have electricity, water or ablution facilities.
The TRU programme was set up last year in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. It is aimed at communities living in high-density accommodation, in a bid to enable social distancing, but has so far failed, with a number of projects abandoned by contractors due to contractual disputes.
For David Molokome and his roommates, the humble homes were a dream.
Temporary residential units built in Mamelodi out of a projected 1,000
— 200
Molokome lives in Block F of the Mamelodi hostel, which has more than 100 rooms but only two working toilets. Up to seven people share one room.
He, like many residents desperate for better living conditions, equated the temporary structure with a permanent home for his family.
"When I was informed about these temporary structures, I was excited, believing that I will be owning my own property. I was looking forward to moving my wife and two children in Limpopo to come stay with me ... that dream has now gone up in smoke," Molokome said.
Mamelodi hostel committee acting chair Enos Shirenda said he fears the structures will be invaded by outsiders and used by criminals.
"The nyaope boys are already using the structures as their hideout and smoking place. We have seen housebreaking increase and we suspect these nyaope boys."
This was just another tender to make politically connected people rich
— James Nkadimeng, Mamelodi hostel resident
Shirenda said if one person in the hostel contracts Covid-19, all hostel residents will be affected. "We literally sleep on top of each other. We were excited when government started building these shelters."
He called on the government to ensure that the companies return and complete the structures.
James Nkadimeng, who moved into the Mamelodi hostel in 1990, has given up hope that the temporary shelters will ever be completed.
"This was just another tender to make politically connected people rich," he said.
Three security guards at the site, who didn't want to be named for fear of victimisation, said that they were last paid in December.
"We have children back home that need school clothes. We can't send money home for food ... we are just surviving on pap," said one.
"The site managers ignore our calls."
Paid to two companies appointed by the Housing Development Agency to build temporary structures in Mamelodi
— R40 million
The TRU programme has been fraught with controversy.
Last August, there was a public outcry after Limpopo premier Stan Mathabatha unveiled a R2.4m, 40-shack settlement. The brown and blue shelters were made from zinc and came at a cost of R64,000 each. They were given to poor residents who were moved from shacks in a congested informal settlement a street away.
The DA said in a press release that in the Eastern Cape, the G5 Group, trading as NJR Projects, was awarded a tender for the construction of the R173m Duncan Village emergency housing project. Businessman Edwin Sodi, who was arrested last September in connection with the R255m Free State asbestos tender, was a registered director of the G5 Group between February and May of 2020. This project has also stalled.
The failure of the TRU has led to the dismissal of Housing Development Agency (HDA) chief financial officer Brian Mosehla and the removal of acting CEO Mikki Xayiya.
Neither Xayiya nor Mosehla responded to numerous calls and WhatsApp messages from the Sunday Times.
According to a letter from human settlements minister Lindiwe Sisulu, dated January 30 and seen by the Sunday Times, the recent cabinet lekgotla complained of the HDA's inability to lead the recovery of the construction sector.
Sisulu's letter further stated that Xayiya would return to the interim board, as the chair, until its term comes to an end "in the coming few weeks".
Sisulu's letter also states that HDA chief operating officer Stephen Poya has been appointed to act as CEO until a permanent appointment can be made, and Nyameko Mbengo has been seconded from the department to act as interim chief financial officer.
Sisulu's spokesperson, Steve Motale, said the HDA's performance "was found not to be satisfactory at all".
The cost of each temporary residential unit
— R64,000
Selby Construction's Lombard Peverett told the Sunday Times his company had abandoned the Mamelodi site after the HDA failed to pay its last two invoices.
"We will only go back to that site when we receive our money," Peverett said.
He said his company had been paid close to R20m and claimed to have built more than 200 units.
He said his company was contracted to build 500 units at a cost of just over R32m.
Layton Matlala, the director of Gorogang Construction, which was also contracted to work on the Mamelodi site, said work had stopped due to disagreements with Mamelodi communities.
He did not know how many units his company had built, or how much it had been paid.
"I know I have been paid more than half the tender amount, which is R32m," he said.
HDA spokesperson Tshepo Nkosi said the TRU is ongoing. He said the HDA acted as the implementation agent on behalf of municipalities and was reliant on the availability of funds to enable implementation.
Regarding the Mamelodi development, he said: "The HDA is committed to continuous engagement with our clients, the City of Tshwane, on this project with the view of meeting our obligation of delivering the required number of TRUs, within the allocated budget and within the revised time frames."
He confirmed the project had stalled and blamed a dissatisfied community, change of project scope, limited availability of construction materials and other technical challenges for the stalled project. Nkosi would not be drawn on what the community is dissatisfied about.
The DA has referred the matter to both the Standing Committee on Public Accounts and the National Portfolio Committee for Human Settlements and Water and Sanitation for inquiry.
Editor's note: This story has been amended to reflect that the following two sentences appeared in the DA press release: "In the Eastern Cape, the G5 Group, trading as NJR Projects, was awarded a tender for the construction of the R135, Duncan Village emergency housing project. Businessman Edwin Sodi, who was arrested last September in connection with the R255m Free State asbestos tender, was a registered director of the G5 Group between February and May of 2020."
We have also added the information that the DA has referred the matter to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts and the National Portfolio Committee for Human Settlements and Water and Sanitation for inquiry. We apologise to the DA and to our readers for these omissions in the original story. The reporter responsible has since resigned."
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