- One Billion is gone
- First R222 million in 2018, R328 million in 2019, R348 million in 2023
- Project was initiated to accommodate 728
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In excess of R1 billion has been squandered on the G Hostel apartment complex since its initiation in 2014.
Vista reported that the first R222 million was stolen in 2018, and R328 million in 2019.
The last catastrophic disappearance, of R348 million, was discovered in 2023.
There is also R8 million that was allocated for payment to sub-contractors and general workers that is unaccounted for. Vistahas proof of the disappearing R8 millon.
The project was initiated to accommodate 728 residents from ward 31.
The old and notorious G Hostel, per court order, should have already been totally demolished.
Construction on the new modern living units started in 2014, but the project has been hampered with double dealings, disappearing funds and corrupt officials.
When the minister of Human Settlements, Mamoloko Kubai, visited the site at the beginning of August, she noted the catastrophe in her own department and has since launched a Special Unit investigation into her department.
This is where the missing R348 million was discovered. She was accompanied by the MEC for Provincial government, Toto Makume and premier Mxolisi Dukwana.
Makume reported to parliament in April that a special investigation will be initiated against officials in the Department of Human Settlement concerning G Hostel and Top Side and Bottom Side (which is in Bloemfontein). The same contractor is responsible for both projects.
In 2018 and 2019 Vista reported extensively on the missing millions and the virtually scuttled project.
Despite the missing millions 80% of the project has been built, but corruption is impeding the completion of this ultra modern apartment complex.
Despite monetary impediments, the sub-contractors have managed to complete 37 units. The remaining nine, which are under the management of DHS need to be built, it is their completion that hangs in the balance.
At the time of going to print, Motale Sebego, communication officer for the Department of Human Settlement, did not answer Vista’s enquiry regarding the project.
Read previous articles pinpointing some of the missions millions
Marti Will
It is still not clear what has happened to the G Hostel’s R222 million.
According to the Free State leader of the DA, Patricia Kopane, R11
billion was allocated to the Free State Department of Human Settlements for
housing.
More than R1 billion was paid to contracters, but very few houses were
ever built in the province.
Kopane says 66 000 title deeds for RDP houses in the Free State are yet to be given to
beneficiaries.
“The provincial Department of Human Settlements has incomplete audits
and is rife with corruption.”
Kopane, along with a delegation of DA leaders, visited the beleaguered
site on Monday (23/04).
On 12 April, Vista reported that the contract had been awarded to
the Mafuri Turnkey construction company in 2016. It was terminated due to
non-performance of the contractor. The DA will take the matter to parliament.
According to Senne Bogatsu, spokesperson of the Department of Human
Settlements, the project is still funded and will be recommenced in the
2018-’19 financial year.
“People who qualify for government subsidised housing will be housed,”
she says.
“In 2014, some 700 people were moved from here to a non-serviced area
next to the Tisha Vanga Bridge,” says Michael Letutu, spokesperson for the Ward
31 Small Business Forum.
“They are still there, although some have found other informal
settlements to live in.”
The project entails 46 three- and four-storey buildings, including
electricity and plumbing.
Marti Will
After five years of disappointment, delays and alleged missing monies, the much-mooted G Hostel residential development in Thabong (G Block) is under construction at last.
At a cost of R328 692 million, the new community residential units are rental accommodations built by the government to replace the old dilapidated G Hostel.
“The air here is clean – it is refreshing,” says Senne Bogatsu, director of corporate communication.
Bogatsu and a delegation of the Department of Human Settlements were on site at the beginning of August, and are very excited about the progress being made on the development.
The new project started in earnest in May, and much progress has been made.
It entails 728 units, and will incorporate the construction of mixed housing and development units.
LTE Consulting Engineers is the main contractor on the project, and the expected time frame of the project is June 2019 to July 2020.
Bogatsu says the department makes use of young men and women as local labour on site.
Michael Letutu of the Concerned Residents Forum, and one of the local contractors, says the renewed project is progressing successfully.
“The second main contractor to be appointed is Baba Radebe. Fortunately, Radebe has saved the day, and this project will be completed successfully within the allotted time frame,” says Letutu.
The initial project description entailed 46 three- and four-storey buildings of six different types. In 2014, more than R222
million was allocated to this project, which in four years did not see a single brick being laid or road being cleared.
At the time, the contract had been awarded to Mafuri Turnkey Accelerated and was then scheduled to be completed within 18 months – by January 2016.
Marti Will
What has happened to the R222 million awarded by the national
government to the Free State Department of Human Settlements to develop the new
G Hostel
of residential units in Thabong (G
Block, Thabong Community Residents Units)?
The contract was awarded to Mafuri Turnkey Accelerated, and the site was
handed over to the company on 14 August 2014. The project was scheduled to be
completed within 18 months – by January 2016.
On completion, the notorious G Hostel and the ladies hostel would have been demolished, and the legal South Africans
occupying the old structures were to be rehoused.
“In 2014, the municipality moved 500 to 700 people to the non-serviced
area next to the Tisha Vanga Bridge. These people were previously on site
8225,” says Michael Letutu, spokesperson for the G
Hostel Concerned Residents Forum, a
registered non-governmental organisation.
“They remain on this site, although some of the displaced settlers have
found other informal settlements where they can live.”
Vista is in possession of various minutes of meetings
held in 2015 and 2016. It was noted in the minutes of a meeting held on 13
October 2015 that a three-month delay in the project was due to the moving of
the informal settlers. The project description entailed 46 three- and
four-storey buildings, with six different types of typologies including
electrical wiring and plumbing, and proper access to water and sanitation.
There was also to have been 3 500 m2 of roads and parking lots.
A storm water drainage system and 570 m of palisade fencing were also
included in the project description.
Despite notes in emails and meeting minutes claiming that 100 % of the
fencing was complete, there is still no
(there is currently no
visible trace of fencing.
The minutes also state that cement foundation blocks were laid. When Vista,
accompanied by Letutu, visited the abandoned site on Monday (09/04), only a
vast expanse of emptiness could be seen. He pointed out that only a thin layer
of gravel has ever been laid out on a small strip of the site.
It was noted in the minutes of a meeting held on 13 October 2015 that
the developer Mafuri always changes the decisions of the project steering
committee, which has a negative impact on the progress of a project.
In August 2016, all project workers were given notice by the
sub-contractor LGE Construction due to non-payment.
According to Kgojane Matutle, spokesperson for the Matjhabeng
Municipality, the question of what has happened to the project – and the money
– must be addressed to the Free State Department of Human Settlements.
“The Matjhabeng Local Municipality has done its part in the project. We
have availed the land, and compiled and verified the list. The provincial
Department of Human Settlements, as the funder, is in a better position to give
the reasons why the project has halted,” he told Vista.
Senne Bogatsu, director of corporate communication, says the project was
terminated due to non-performance by the contractor.
“The project is still funded, and it is due to commence this financial
year (2018/’19). It will accommodate those who qualify for government
subsidised housing,” says Bogatsu.
