DA MP raises alarm on gross wastage

The perceived large-scale wastage of taxpayers’ money locked up in the remnants of a multi-million Rand infrastructure investment on government land posing as a gaping black hole on the one side of the city, has now resulted in Democratic Alliance (DA) Parliamentarian and DA Shadow Minister for Human Settlements Solly Malatsi intending to raise alarm about the status quo of the run-down facility.
Malatsi intended to underscore a situation he referred to as infuriating in the light of a pressing housing crisis, experienced both in Limpopo and the rest of the country, in letters to be addressed to the Ministers of Defence and Human Settlements in due course. On Tuesday he confirmed that the letters were being sent off to the respective office-bearers soonest.
Accompanied by Polokwane Observer, Malatsi paid a visit to the vacant temporary accommodation arrangement of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) at Uitkoms on the outskirts of the city on Friday for an oversight role that afforded him the opportunity to acquaint himself with the issue.

What remained of an erstwhile 25 units for SANDF staff who reportedly vacated the facility in 2009, nowadays bears resemblance to a ghost village as infrastructure installations in the form of fenced-in mobile homes, cables and casing, distribution and electric boxes, street lights and even telephone booth are stripped of all content.
After years of vandalism it has grown into a gaping hole left in the wake of an exit by officials who were offered accommodation arrangements elsewhere in the light of the units having been considered unstable and unsafe, it was previously learnt. Nowadays the sight of scattered remnants of wasted taxpayer’s money attract more attention than the tranquil surrounds on one side of a walled-in facility along the N1 North.
Malatsi afterwards expressed concern over disregard for taxpayer’s monies, of which part could have been recovered by using the temporary structures for classrooms, housing, training facilities, an empowerment centre or an accommodation establishment while still intact.
He immediately undertook to write to the respective ministers in person by Tuesday to shed light on the current situation.
Malatsi said it infuriated a person to see the facility in such a state for two reasons, being the desperate demand for housing in Limpopo and the rest of the country as well as the insensitive waste of taxpayer’s money. He estimated that millions had been spent to initially provide for the establishment of the small village of fully furbished units and accompanying infrastructure on what seemed to be fertile soil.

Polokwane Observer reported on the matter in May last year, quoting an SANDF spokesperson as saying that the SANDF was then engaged in and almost concluding the process towards demolishing of the units, adding that it could occur around mid-2017 or towards the end of last year. Due to wear and tear to the units he couldn’t estimate the value of the infrastructure at the time.
During Friday’s visit the facility seemed in a worse state than before without any visible sign of intervention, other than further vandalism having occurred.
At the time of going to press follow-up information was requested from the SANDF in Pretoria, but is still awaited.

Story & photos: YOLANDE NEL
>>observer.yolande@gmail.com