Walking into Eskom’s R1 billion abandoned housing project in Mpumalanga sends a shiver down your spine because it seems like a ghost town. In the dark, empty stairwells and along the cracked concrete corridors, you feel as though you’re starring in your own horror movie.
Some years ago, Eskom said it planned to hand over the flats to the department of human settlements, but that never happened. Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena did not respond to the questions concerning the project.
It’s approximately 10 years since the project was left to rot and it now resembles a haunted city.
Wayne Duvenage, CEO of Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse, said: “This matter is a classic case of poor project governance, weak oversight, procurement irregularities and the absence of consequence management, which are common features in many large state infrastructure failures in South Africa.”
The uMkhonto weSizwe party Mpumalanga leader Busisiwe Mkhwebane said there were tendencies to turn public projects into “jackpots” for connected parties.
“That the flats were never occupied and are now crumbling into a ghost town points to the project becoming unviable, with costs piling up.”
