Dream dies as shacks sprout

KHUTSONG: PROJECT FOR SPORT CENTRE, FIELDS ABANDONED WITH NO EXPLANATION

- Masoka Dube

His should have been the "field of dreams" for young people and adults in Khutsong township near Carletonville - but the Merafong municipality's failure to complete a sports centre has seen the earmarked area targeted by land invaders.

They are erecting shacks where there should have been soccer, rugby and cricket pitches, and basketball and netball courts.

It is not clear how much money has been wasted on the abandoned project since there is no budget information after the 2012-13 financial year, nor any information about how the R3 million allocated in that year has been spent.

It is about 12 years since the project to build the Khutsong sports fields was abandoned.

When The Citizen visited the area this week, there were several people preparing to erect housing structures, while boys were playing soccer next to what was supposed to be a soccer pitch.

Vusi Cele, a community leader responsible for the allocation of the plots, said so far more than 300 people had invaded the area and were building shacks.

"Yes, it is true that we are taking this land because the municipality failed to make use of it, while we don't have houses."

"Officials from the municipality's human settlements unit came to talk to us and instructed us to immediately stop what we are doing, but we refused."