Haunting ghost town in the middle of South Africa’s richest province

·1 Apr 2025

Several years ago, the City of Ekurhuleni embarked on a mega-project to provide 3,510 desperately needed social housing units.

This mega-project was set to provide modern living spaces for people living in the Winnie Mandela informal settlement in Thembisa.

Today, the project is incomplete, abandoned, and empty. The four-storey buildings have been stripped of roofs, doors, windows, and electrical sockets.

The city has reported that R371,165,000 has already been spent on the mega-project.

The Thembisa site in Ekurhuleni covers over 58 hectares, and was set to boast 3,159 RDP walk-ups and 351 social housing units after the municipality bought the land from Old Mutual.

It was intended to provide homes for the hundreds of Winnie Mandela Informal Settlement residents and those in the overcrowded hostels nearby.

Two contractors were commissioned to construct the first phase of 500 housing units, and the site was officially handed over in February 2020.

Former Mayor Mzwandile Masina presided over the sod-turning ceremony for the project on February 26, 2020.

At the ceremony, the city outlined plans to implement the remaining units and bulk infrastructure in phases, aiming to complete 500 units annually until the project’s projected completion in 2024.

Later that year, then-MMC for Human Settlements Lesiba Mpya reported that, by the end of 2020, the project had reached approximately 23% completion and was expected to be finalised by June 2021.

Mpya noted that “milestones had already been achieved”, including earthworks, raft foundations, ground-floor walling, and a significant portion of first-floor slabs.

The former MMC said that wall panels were being assembled on-site and that most bulk services had been completed.

Preparations were underway to ready other portions of the site for subsequent construction phases. He added that the project would be “completed by June 2021.”

A render of what mega project would look like, posted by the City of Ekurhuleni in 2019.

Former Executive Mayor Mzwandile Masina and other officials at the sod turning on 27 February 2020. Photo: City of Ekurhuleni

The mega-project site in 2025

Despite these projections, the project failed to meet its anticipated completion date, and construction did not materialise as planned.

BusinessTech visited the 58-hectare site in March 2025, and was confronted with buildings similar to those in battle zones.

Fencing, electrical equipment, and anything of much resale value have been taken, and abandoned guard huts have been hidden by plants.

The vegetation is wildly overgrown, and the unfinished four-story buildings have been stripped of roofs, doors, windows, and electrical sockets.

Abandoned construction equipment lies suffocated by the overgrowth, while some individuals occupy the decaying buildings, covering windowless frames with plastic bags.

What was initially budgeted for the Tembisa Extension 25 Mega Project by the metro, and reported in annual reports, differs.

According to Ekurhuleni’s budget allocations, R160 million was set aside in 2018/19, R157 million in 2019/20, and R207 million in 2020/21.

In the 2020/21 financial year, GDHS transferred R63.5m to the City of Ekurhuleni to financially assist the city in their implementation of housing projects in the city.

However, the metro’s reported capital expenditures in their annual reports from 2017/18 to date amount to R371,165,000.

This is made up of:

2017/18: R91,621,000
2018/19: R118,050,000
2019/20: R55,584,000
2020/21: R43,940,000
2021/22: R33,388,000
2022/23: R28,582,000

The annual report for 2023/24 noted that R14.95 million was allocated for that year, but it was reported that nothing was spent.

In the 2024/25 budget, R10 million was allocated for that financial year, R10 million for 2025/26 and R5 million for 2026/27.

The city recently responded to the Daily Sun, stating that it believes the provincial Human Settlements department is responsible.

MMC for Human Settlements in the City of Ekurhuleni, Kgopelo Hollo, had said that the abandonment stems from a lack of funding to repair the damage caused by vandalism over two years ago.

“Some unknown people came in numbers two years ago and hijacked the project, at the same time also stole components of the project like windows, roofs, and electrical cables,” Hollo said.

The MMC said that the project will resume when the City receives R97 million in funding from the Gauteng Provincial Department of Human Settlements.

The Gauteng Department of Human Settlements told BusinessTech that “the City of Ekurhuleni would need to respond on the implementation of the project and challenges thereof.”

“Should the City require additional funding for the project, they would need to do a detailed assessment and submit it to the Department for consideration,” they added.

The entire project forms part of the metro’s “Development of Integrated Sustainable Human Settlements” which looks to provide “100,000 housing units and 59,900 service stands in this term of office.”

There are various housing mega projects across the city.

One is the Clayville Integrated Housing Development Project, for which, according to 2024 figures from the national department, over 7,000 housing units have been handed over.

ActionSA Gauteng leader Funzi Ngobeni condemned the abandoned Thembisa project, saying that “the most vulnerable of our society already face hardships with unbearable socio-economic conditions… and cannot afford to have an uncaring government failing to provide them with the dignity of home ownership.”

His party is calling for the introduction of an online Public Budget Transparency Portal to track projects’ implementation.

“This Portal would be accessible to all members of the public through their gadgets in real time, where the public will be able to check who is the contractor of the project, how much has been spent on it and how that project has benefited the intended beneficiaries,” said Ngobenzi.

Update

Following the published article, the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements published a media statement to “categorically state that the GDHuS was not responsible for the planning nor the implementation of the Tembisa Extension 25 Mega Housing Project.”

“This project falls under the jurisdiction of the City of Ekurhuleni, which managed its execution and budget allocation. The R371 million reportedly spent on the project was not allocated or administered by the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements.

“In the 2020/21 financial year, GDHS transferred R63.5m to the City of Ekurhuleni to financially assist the city in their implementation of housing projects in the city.

“The city was wholly responsible for its implementation as they appointed the service provider independent of the Department, as they do with numerous projects within their jurisdiction.”

“Any claims suggesting that this was a joint initiative of sorts, is both inaccurate and misleading,” added the GDHuS.

The MEC also said in social media posts that BusinessTech did not reach out to the Department regarding the article. The publication did send several questions and received a response on 25 March 2025 from Zandi Gamedze, which was referenced in the article.

* This article has been updated to reflect that the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements was not part of a joint venture, as previously claimed by City officials.