Gangster State

There is some confusion as to how many houses Thoko’s company
actually completed. In response to my queries in early 2018 , the FSHS
initially said that it had thus far paid R 67. 5 million to Unital for 630
finished houses. But the department later sent me an updated figure –
there were in fact only 568 completed houses. The R 67. 5 million
correlates with the housing subsidy system’s records. The fact that
Unital did not receive the full R 150 million confirms that the company
did not finish its work. Neither the FSHS nor Unital was able to
explain why.
Inundated with complaints from Vogelfontein’s new residents, the
local branch of the Democratic Alliance conducted an investigation and
compiled a report in September 2017.^4 According to the report, there
were fewer than 200 finished houses, many of which appeared to have
been built with substandard materials and showed poor workmanship.
The biggest problem, however, was that the entire development had
been left without water, sewerage and electricity. As a result, many
residents were forced to build dangerous pit toilets. Others simply
relieved themselves in a nearby stream, causing considerable health
risks. Because the area had no basic services, some of the completed
houses were left unoccupied, which resulted in them being vandalised
or used by local teenagers as drug dens. In short, Magashule’s vision of
a fully serviced ‘human settlement’ had turned into an underserviced
‘kasi’.
I visited Vogelfontein in March 2018 to see for myself. The DA report
was no exaggeration, and they were not the only political party alarmed
by the situation. A group of local SACP members showed me around
and pointed out some of the problems. In one section of the
development, open trenches were the only indication that the contractor