It will cost the fiscus a whopping R1.9-billion to remove asbestos roofs in the Free State, the provincial government has revealed.
This is as thousands of Free State residents continue to live under asbestos roofs, years after millions of rand were squandered in a project meant to eradicate the hazardous material.
In 2014, a R255-million project was undertaken by the Free State department of human settlements to identify all the houses provided by the provincial government that still had rasbestos roofs.
Once identified, it was expected that removing asbestos would begin. However, little work has been done to remove asbestos roofing, which poses serious health hazards to the lungs.
The provincial government this week said that nearly 40 000 houses still bear the dangerous roofing.
Provincial spokesperson for the department of human settlements, Sello Dithebe told Sunday World that there were more than 36 000 housing units with asbestos roofs in the province.
“There are currently 36 301 units of houses with asbestos roofs in the Free State. Some houses are two-room houses, and 70 units will be rebuilt, as per the R20-million allocation by the Free State provincial treasury. The rest of the units, inclusive of this figure of 36 301, will cost the national fiscus more than R1.9-billion.
“(Mxolisi) Dukwana also sees this as an opportunity for the department to communicate openly, with the view to exorcising the ghost of state capture and to heal the Free State,” said Dithebe.
Dithebe said that Dukwana was aiming to adhere to strict compliance with the Public Finance Management Act, and all requisite protocols of supply chain management to work on rebuilding houses earmarked at eradicating asbestos roofing.
“The department intends to start this year and do all it can to accelerate this process, to restore dignity to the victims of this fraud and corruption. This is work in progress as per the MEC’s March 2022 budget speech.
“MEC Dukwana is particularly pleased about the constant media and public interest in removing this relic of apartheid-era housing from the face of the earth in the democratic order, as well as the stench and stain of lumpen-proletarian and rent-seeking machinations of the ugly and noxious phenomenon of state capture,” he said.
Former Free State premier Ace Magashule is facing charges of fraud and corruption in the high court in Bloemfontein over the failed R255-million asbestos case.
He is joined in the dock by former head of the department of human settlements, Nthimotse Mokhesi, former mayor of Mangaung Olly Mlamleli, and businessman Edwin Sodi, among others. The asbestos project also featured prominently in the state capture report.
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