Outrage as Gauteng's R97 million housing project lies in ruins

ActionSA has sounded the alarm over the shocking abandonment of the R97 million Tembisa Mega Housing Project, which has stood unfinished and neglected for nearly five years.

- MASABATA MKWANE [e-mail]

The joint initiative between the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements and the City of Ekurhuleni was meant to provide much-needed housing relief for destitute and impoverished Tembisa.

ActionSA Gauteng provincial chair person, Funzi Ngobeni MPL, said what was meant to provide much-needed housing relief has instead become a wasteland.

“The four-story buildings now stand in ruins, stripped of roofs, doors, windows, and electrical sockets, turning the site into a war zone.

“With a backlog of over 1.3 million units in Gauteng, this project would have provided much-needed relief for accommodation to residents. Former Ekurhuleni MMC for Human Settlements, Cllr Nkululeko Hlongwane, said residents on 19 November 2021 that the project would be completed by June 2023. Instead, the site resembles an aftermath of a war zone currently, with the four-storey buildings having been stripped of roofs, doors, windows and electrical sockets.