Impoverished citizens who have called Caleb Motshabi (also known as “Dinaweng”) their temporary home for some time, watch helplessly as “strangers” allegedly score housing sites ahead of them at the Klipfontein farm across from the R702 road which merges into the M3, despite not being on the list.

On Tuesday some of these disgruntled residents barricaded a portion of the road with rocks, demanding that they be prioritised on the list for sites.

Mangaung Metro purchased the farm to ensure that residents who have built shacks on top of major Bloem Water pipelines that endanger their lives, can be legally assigned to safer sites.

Klipfontein resident and activist, Tefo Phakiso, alleges that there is some corruption at play with regards to the allocation of housing sites.

He further tells OFM News that some of the “lucky” individuals who score housing sites on Klipfontein farm are gainfully employed individuals and in some instances business owners who are eyeing the area for their businesses as the area develops.

The Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality is yet to comment on these allegations.

This isn’t the first time that dealings at the Klipfontein farm have come under scrutiny in recent weeks. 

In mid-July Express Newspaper reported that scores of homeless people from the Gatvol informal settlement in Heidedal had to be returned after they prematurely made the move to Klipfontein on their own accord.

Mangaung Metro spokesperson, Qondile Khedama, provided insight into the allocation process at the time.

He said Klipfontein beneficiaries include people from informal settlements in the Cancer area, Cemeteries in Sports, Kgatelopele, MK Square and Rankie Square.

Khedama also maintained that all the people who have been placed on the controversial waiting list for sites are screened and verified to see if they meet the criteria for allocation.

Despite this seemingly above board explanation, one Caleb Motshabi resident says she signed up on a list with a distant relative for sites. That resident has since scored a site but she hasn’t.

She says when she probes the matter, officials tell her the list she was on “burned” in some weird incident.

She then asks if the list was accidentally destroyed then how come her relative was able to be allocated a site because he was on the same list.

This is a developing story.

OFM News/Olebogeng Motse, Lucky Nkuyane and Kekeletso Mosebetsi