Polokwane’s R27m hot potato

POLOKWANE – Nine years after low and middle income residents thought they would have the chance to become homeowners in a high income suburb, no houses have been built in Ext 100 in Bendor, contrary to commitments made by the department of cooperative governance, human settlement and traditional affairs (Coghsta).

The now infamous integrated housing settlement project is a hot potato that has clearly become an embarrassment to the department nine years after the project was initiated.

The project, which came into being amid much fanfare and the involvement of national government, was a project which the Coghsta MEC at the time, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, declared was a project close to her heart.

According to a source close to the project, the 17 hectare property was sourced and bought by Coghsta for around R27 million. A price that was, according to him, hugely inflated.

The source said that the project was “different” from the outset.

“The municipality had nothing to do with the project, except that they approved the rezoning of the property to a township.

“Usually property to be used for low cost housing would be sourced by Coghsta for the municipality, and then handed over to the municipality. But this time, the municipality was completely bypassed,” he said.

Following a lot of red tape delays and a change of contractors, by October 2013, the contractors who were responsible for the development of the infrastructure, had completed their phase of the project, and handed the site back to Coghsta.

In the meantime, Nkoana-Mashabane moved on to greener pastures in national government.

The contractor that would be responsible for the further development of the project, Mabone Construction, was appointed in November 2012, when Clifford Motsepe was the MEC of Coghsta. To date, no further development has taken place.

Ironically, Coghsta has been voted the best provincial department three times in a row over the past few years, and has also received the prestigious Govan Mbeki Award more than once.

Asked why development was still at a standstill, recently-appointed Coghsta MEC, Makoma Makhurupetje told Review there were a lot of delays in the process. However, she did not wish to elaborate on what these delays were.

Coghsta spokesperson, Motupa Selomo, said the hold up was due to Mabone Construction not having submitted the building plans as yet. “We have not received the plans from the contractor yet,” he said.

However, Mabone Construction owner, Salim Ayob insisted that the plans had been submitted. He blamed the department for the delay, saying they had not approved his building plans yet.

Several people who had already applied for a stand and/or house in Ext 100, said that when they applied to Mabone Constructtion, they were told that someone would contact them. However, no contact had been made.

The source close to the project said one of the reasons that the project was an embarrassing white elephant, was that an empty stand was worth more than one with a house already built on it, should it be resold by the new owners. He said the idea of the project was that prospective home owners in the middle- and high income bracket would be able to purchase a stand, and then build a house on it. He said the income generated in this manner would then go towards the cost of the building of 100 low-income houses.

The source further alleged that Coghsta now seemed to be between a rock and a hard place regarding this project. Coghsta could be delaying in order to get legal advice on how to proceed, he speculated.