The 84-year-old Masabata Sekhuthe told OFM News she was informed by the Mantsopa Local Municipality that she needs to move out of her house because it was built on top of Eskom power supply cables. But, instead she decided to get herself a lawyer and to fight the municipality.  

She says her two neighbours received the same notice from the municipality. Sekhuthe says she has been staying in that house her entire life. Her father has built the house that still has its asbestos roof. She says she hoped a provincial project during the tenure of “Free State Premier Ace Magashule” will assist to replace the roof of her house.

Evidence at the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture heard evidence that the Free State government paid R255 million to a company to audit asbestos in government houses in the Free State.

READ MORE: #StateCapture: FS asbestos project report ‘ineffective’ 

Sekhuthe says the roofs of some houses in her town were removed and she was hoping that their house would be next on the list, but instead the project came to a halt. Now, about six years later, after the tender was awarded, Magashule is facing charges in connection with #asbestosgate.

READ MORE:  ANC SG and others due in FS High Court #AsbestosGate

The roof of Sekhuthe’s house – where she is living with her 43-year-old son, 50-year-old daughter and her grandchildren – is, however, the least of her worries now, as the municipality wants her out of the house. She says she refuses to move, because when the municipal officials took them to the site where houses were built for them, it turned out these houses are smaller than their own. 

The new house the municipality wants Sekhuthe to move to.  PHOTO: Kekeletso Mosebetsi

These houses, she says, were built by the municipality with the assistance of Eskom. Sekhuthe says when they informed the municipality that they are not moving, they were told that they will not receive any assistance from either the municipality or Eskom should they experience electrical problems at their current homes. She said that officials from the municipality also told her that she would have to pay for any damages that were to occur at the houses that were built for them, even if they have not moved to those houses.

“In our recent meeting, municipal officials told us that Eskom said they don’t have money to extend the houses. Officials from the Manstopa Local Municipality told us that they are taking this matter to their legal teams, so I decided to also seek legal advice for which I am currently paying with my own money,” said Sekhuthe.

OFM News sent enquiries to the Mantsopa Municipality, but received no response or comment.

OFM News/Kekeletso Mosebetsi