A flagship R11 billion housing project, launched with the promise of alleviating Gauteng’s housing crisis, has devolved into a derelict monument to mismanagement and neglect. The Montrose Mega City project, intended to house more than 10,500 residents, stands as a stark example of a public initiative gone awry, with residents decrying the squalid conditions and local officials demanding accountability.
Initiated in 2017, the project was designed to be a cornerstone of the province’s housing strategy. However, construction stalled after the original contractor went into liquidation. According to the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements, R46 million was spent before work ground to a halt, leaving hundreds of units incomplete and vulnerable to rampant vandalism.
The site, a sprawling landscape of unfinished buildings, is a testament to the project’s failure. Eyewitness accounts and an oversight visit by DA MPL Evert du Plessis paint a grim picture: stripped windows and doors, stolen fixtures like bathtubs and meter boxes, and crumbling walls. The on-site security presence is minimal, a single post barely visible amid the overgrown grass and scattered debris.
“It’s just a shell—there’s nothing left inside,” said du Plessis, referring to a stripped power substation that once served the entire development. “Even the wires that connected it to the grid have been pulled out.”
The department’s spokesperson, Tahir Sema, confirmed the project was plagued by “significant delays due to the poor performance of the original developer, whose contract was ultimately terminated.” Sema said that 173 units were completed and occupied, but acknowledged that 900 walk-up units were left at various stages of completion and have since been vandalized. He added that the department is addressing “latent defects” in some of the occupied homes.
The failure of the project has left residents like Moipane Sibayoni, an elderly resident of a completed RDP home, in precarious conditions. “We have no electricity, no lights, no warmth,” Sibayoni said. “It’s the same as living in a shack.”
Du Plessis attributes the failure to a lack of coordination between provincial and local authorities. He argues that the provincial government, through its Department of Infrastructure Development, paid contractors to build the housing but left financially distressed municipalities to shoulder the burden of providing essential services like electricity and water.
The Gauteng Department of Human Settlements has initiated a new procurement process to appoint a replacement developer, but no timeline has been provided for the project’s completion. A security company has been deployed to the site to prevent further theft and vandalism, and a case of theft has been opened with the South African Police Service.
As the Montrose Mega City project languishes, it raises critical questions about public-private partnerships, government oversight, and the true cost of stalled development on the lives of those it was meant to serve.