Limpopo premier red-faced at R2.4m shack tender

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Limpopo premier Stan Mathabatha, who cut a ribbon to launch a controversial shack settlement, claims to have not been aware of the embarrassing structures funded by his province.

A red-faced Mathabatha yesterday shifted the blame after a public outcry and backlash, saying he only found out on arrival on Friday that he was launching a R2.4m 40-shack settlement when he got to Talana hostels in Tzaneen.

This is despite Mathabatha's office sending invites to the media about the launch of the shack sprawl with a poster bearing his face and the corrugated iron sheeting structures and further posting the same on his official Twitter account.

The brown and blue shelters made from zinc which came at a cost of R64,000 each were given to poor residents who were moved from shacks in a congested informal settlement a street away.

Mathabatha's spokesperson Kenny Mathivha confirmed that the premier called an urgent meeting with all MECs yesterday to address the public fallout over what happened at the weekend.

"The meeting was about the premier trying to establish what tarnished the brand Limpopo on Friday because the premier went there to unveil low-cost housing, he was not briefed that he was going to cut a ribbon for shacks."

Mathivha said Mathabatha has ordered MEC for human settlements Basikop Makamu to give him a report on the project.

Makamu could not be reached for comment yesterday.

The shelters, meant to address accommodation at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, came with no ablution facilities and were placed on top of bricks.

The structures which Sowetan has seen are divided into two rooms with one room which is intended to be a bedroom big enough to fit only a single bed.

A company based in the Vaal which has been making and selling complete shacks for 18 years, Tshepiso Fast Zozo, charges R8,300 for a three-roomed shack made from corrugated iron sheets which comes with three windows fitted with glasses.

Nosipho Tshawe, an HR official at Tshepiso, said their two-room shacks were going for R6,450 while their one-room shelters went for R4,700 and they delivered nationwide.

However, one of the beneficiaries, Joseph Marutha, said he was happy to have received something from government.

"I have been staying at this place for the past seven years without any decent accommodation," Marutha said.

"This is better than the shack I was staying in," he said.

Another resident, Paris Monyepao, said he was told by municipal officials to demolish his own shack with a promise that he would given a new one.

"I moved in and stayed for five days and the officials kicked me out saying I don't deserve it because I'm an

ex-convict and I don't qualify for one," he said.

Another resident, Jerry Tema, said: "My stay in this shack might be short-lived ... I'm one of the first to register for them but now I'm told that I don't deserve it."

EFF provincial leader in Limpopo Jossey Buthane has called for a forensic investigation and audit to be conducted on the project.

Buthane called the shelters an embarrassment to black people.

"The ANC government led by Mathabatha has insulted our people by giving them lousy shelters at an unreasonable price of R64,000 a shack. That amount can build a decent home for our people who put them in government in the first place," he said.

"We are going to ask for the committee on local government to convene so that we can question this. We are also going to oppose the extension of this kind of project in Burgersfort," said Buthane.

ANC provincial secretary Soviet Lekganyane declined to comment, saying the party "can't be drawn into government's business".