News24 | ON THE ROAD | ‘This is about votes, nothing else’: Free State municipality builds RDP homes ahead of poll

• A woman approved in 2014 remains homeless while people who applied after 2020 have received houses.
• The municipality denied election timing, but 90 houses were built months before the polls after more than a 10-year delay.
• Residents alleged corruption and nepotism, calling Dihlabeng a “mafia municipality” protecting officials.
• For more political news, visit News24 Politics.

For more than 10 years, she waited. Through countless promises, multiple elections and endless excuses.

But it was only when the next local government elections loomed that the ANC-led Dihlabeng Local Municipality in the Free State suddenly found the urgency – and the budget – to build houses.

“This is about votes, nothing else,” said the woman, who was approved for an RDP house in 2014, but now spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

“They’ve had 10 years to build these houses. Why now? Why just before elections?”

The answer, residents said, was as old as democracy itself: a ruling party scrambling to win back support where service delivery failures have eroded public trust.

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More than 90 RDP houses have been built in recent months, at an “unusually fast pace”, and are scheduled to be handed over in the next two weeks.

“It’s very frustrating. From 2014 until now, it’s … 10 years,” the woman said during an interview with News24.

She added:

Just before the elections, it’s an election thing. They want votes, so they’re rushing.

More than a decade later, she still lives in a rented room with her three children – now aged 15, 19 and 22 – watching as others prepare to move into houses that should have been hers.

“I have been patient. I have followed all the rules. I have waited my turn,” the woman said.

“But now I see people who applied in 2021, 2022, are about to move into new houses. How is that fair?”

But the rushed construction has exposed deeper problems: a pattern of corruption, nepotism and manipulation that has seen deserving beneficiaries bypassed while those with political connections receive houses.

The Mabuza promise that took four years

The woman traces the current housing rush to a visit by the now-late former deputy president David Mabuza in 2020, when residents from the Captain Charles and Riverside informal settlements complained about housing delays and corruption.

The Dihlabeng Municipality installing a drainage system in Extension 7.

Rosetta Msimango/News24

“We told him about our problems – how people were suffering, how children were growing up in shacks and rented rooms, how some people had been waiting since 2014,” she said. “He promised to help.”

Years later – and months before elections – the municipality has finally acted.

The pattern is familiar across South Africa: high-level visits, grand promises, years of inaction, then a flurry of activity when elections approach.

READ | ON THE ROAD: ‘They’re coming for me’: Malamulele residents fear ‘Water Mafia’ as polls loom

Dihlabeng municipal manager Mohau Ntheli said Mabuza visited the municipality and met with residents from Captain Charles and Riverside.

He added that more than 200 residents were allocated sites in Bakenpark Extension 5, and houses were built for them, while 90 low-cost houses were constructed in Bakenpark Extension 7.

Ntheli said the delay in relocating residents was caused by the installation of water and sewer infrastructure and the construction of a reservoir and pump station in Bakenpark Extensions 6 and 7.

However, another resident, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said RDP houses were allocated based on connections.

He concurred with the women that friends, partners and family members of municipal workers have been prioritised.

“If you do not know anybody or are not connected and also not willing to bribe, you do not get the house. But now that it's election time, they try to use it to buy votes,” he said.

Residents of Dihlabeng claim the government quickly built RDP houses, scheduled to be handed over as part of an election campaign.

Rosetta Msimango/News24

However, Ntheli rejected allegations that the timing was election-driven, saying construction depended on budget availability and that the municipality received allocation for low-cost houses at the beginning of the 2026/27 financial year in April 2026.

“Construction of RDP houses is part of service delivery which is rendered to the community irrespective of election period,” he said.

‘Mafia municipality’

The woman described a municipality where “officials are protecting each other” and where “it’s a land issue, corruption, personal gain from the municipal officials”.

She referred to Dihlabeng as a “mafia municipality” where “they have learnt from the big [leaders]”.

Her allegations are supported by official investigations.

In August 2024, the municipality’s former manager and the director of public works, infrastructure and human settlement appeared in court on fraud and Municipal Finance Management Act charges related to an allegedly irregular R611 000 payment for work that was never completed.

Presidential Proclamation 209 of 2024 also referred Dihlabeng municipal affairs to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) for investigation into procurement irregularities and possible corruption.

Ntheli said the two former officials, Lekgetho Isaac Mokgathle and Ntokozo Erick Shabalala, were no longer employed by the municipality and that it was not privy to the status of the court case.

He added that the municipality was aware of the SIU investigation and was cooperating with law enforcement agencies.

But for residents, the corruption is most visible in who gets houses – and who does not.

The woman said:

Council resolutions say councillors must identify disabled and child-headed households. But there’s manipulation. People are being fooled.

She alleged that houses meant for the most vulnerable were instead allocated to girlfriends, family members and friends of councillors – while those on waiting lists for a decade remained in shacks.

“If you know someone in the municipality, you get a house. If you don’t, you wait forever,” she said.

Some people who applied after 2020 have already received house allocations, while those approved before then have been left out. She knows of at least 15 people in similar situations.

RDP houses built in the Dihlabeng Local Municipality.

Rosetta Msimango/News24

Ntheli strongly denied these allegations, describing them as “misguided and without basis”.

“There are no merits to the allegations that people who applied for RDP houses after 2020 are receiving allocations ahead of people who were approved as far back as 2014.”

He said the municipality did not determine priority on the beneficiary list, adding that the provincial Department of Human Settlements appointed contractors and provided them with beneficiary lists.

“The municipality does not have a role in deciding whose houses should be built first,” Ntheli said, adding that the municipality’s role was limited to allocating erven to beneficiaries who applied through the provincial department.

He challenged allegations of nepotism and corruption in house allocation, saying: “The allegations that RDP houses are being allocated to girlfriends, family members and friends of municipal councillors and officials, rather than to legitimate beneficiaries, are misguided and without basis.”

The municipality uses the National Housing Needs Registry system, which tracks individuals and families who need government-subsidised housing.

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Ntheli said 28 896 people were currently registered on the database for Dihlabeng.

“When you ask the municipality, they tell you to wait. When you complain, they threaten you. That’s why I can’t use my name. I’m scared,” the woman who spoke to News24 added.

Ntheli rejected allegations that complainants were threatened by municipal officials, challenging anyone making such claims to come forward with proof and report them to law enforcement agencies.

He said residents could report housing irregularities to the provincial Department of Human Settlements and threats by municipal officials to the municipal manager or executive mayor.

“To our knowledge, there are no officials that were disciplined for threatening and/or intimidating complainants in Dihlabeng Local Municipality,” Ntheli added.

No infrastructure, no accountability

Even those who receive houses in Dihlabeng face another problem: the RDP developments lack basic infrastructure.

“The RDP houses – there’s no clinic,” the woman said, describing a pattern where municipalities build houses to meet political targets but fail to provide schools, clinics and services.

She added:

They’re not dealing with the surface. They must address the real issues.

Ntheli said Bakenpark Extensions 5, 6 and 7 were mixed land-use developments with various land parcels earmarked for social amenities.

He added that the municipality had made land available to provincial departments for planning and implementation but could not commit to timelines on their behalf.

Despite evidence of corruption, the woman said accountability remained elusive.

“The Hawks say they cannot investigate,” she added.

The Hawks did not respond to requests for comment by the time of publication.

The cost of waiting

For the woman, the past decade or so has been marked by humiliation and despair.

“They don’t care. To them, I’m nobody. I don’t have connections, I don’t have money to bribe anyone, so I don’t matter,” she said.

“How do you tell your children that the government promised us a house 10 years ago and we’re still waiting?

“I should pass on [die],” she added, her voice heavy with resignation.

Now, as the 90 houses prepare for handover, she has given up hope of being included.

“They’re fooling people,” the woman said.

The irony is bitter: a government that ignored her for 10 years plus, now expects her to reward them with a vote for finally doing what they promised a decade ago – while still excluding her from the benefits.

She said:

I’m tired of waiting. I’m tired of promises. I just want my house.

“I’ve waited 10 years. What’s another year?” she added, before saying quietly: “But I don’t know how much longer I can do this.”

For the woman in Dihlabeng, the lesson is clear: in the ANC’s South Africa, houses are not a right – they are a political tool, deployed when votes are needed and forgotten when elections are won.

“This is not about helping people,” she said. “It’s about power.”