Note to Editors: Please find attached English and Afrikaans soundbites by David Mc Kay MPL, and Sesotho soundbite by Jafta Mokoena MPL with image here
The Democratic Alliance demands an immediate, independent investigation into the Free State Department of Human Settlements’ catastrophic mismanagement of public housing funds.
For decades, the people of this province have been betrayed by a system that rewards failure, protects the politically connected, and leaves families languishing in squalor while billions of rands are siphoned through a revolving door of failed contractors and consultants.
The evidence is damning. Projects like the G-Hostel in Thabong, Welkom, and the Dark and Silver City redevelopment in Mangaung have become graveyards for public money. The G-Hostel project alone has devoured over R608 million, nearly triple its original budget, yet stands only 67% complete, with hundreds of finished units left empty due to the department’s failure to provide basic sewer and power infrastructure.
It has requested a further R401 million to complete the remaining units. In Mangaung, the Silver City project has consumed over R632 million, with completion now dependent on a further R220 million in unfunded costs. The average cost per unit in these projects has soared to over R1 million, a grotesque insult to the thousands still waiting for a roof over their heads.
This is not mere incompetence. It is a destructive cycle: politically connected or underperforming contractors, some with alleged ties to the governing ANC, are repeatedly appointed, fail to deliver, and walk away with millions. Sites are abandoned, vandalised, and stripped, only for new contractors to be paid again to repair the damage.
Consultants appear time and again, yet the same failures persist; meanwhile, families wait years, watching their promised homes rot in the sun, while the well-connected profit from their misery.
Why are those responsible for this devastation not blacklisted, prosecuted, or compelled to repay what they have squandered? Why do these contractors and consultants profit while communities inherit ruins? Why must the public pay twice for the same house: first for those who fail to deliver, and again for those brought in to fix the damage? This is a betrayal of public trust and a violation of the right to decent housing.
The DA demands full disclosure of all expenditure, contractors, and consultants; a forensic investigation into repeated appointments and political links; the recovery of wasted funds; and the appointment of independently vetted contractors with proven records. Free State residents cannot keep paying for the same apartments. Public housing must build homes, not enrich the politically connected.