A multi-million rand government property, originally purchased to house and protect orphaned and vulnerable children, is now occupied by government officials and their families, while the children it was meant to serve roam the streets, exposed to abuse, addiction, and the elements.
The building, known as Park City or Tupac City Flats in Golf View, Mahikeng, has become the centre of a scandal highlighting the plight of homeless youth in the area. According to a social worker who was involved with the children’s care and wishes to remain anonymous, the facility was bought with government money “solely for the inhabitation of children in need of care and protection.”
The children were moved there around the year 2000 from a previous home in Mafikeng that was deemed substandard and too remote from essential community resources. Their stay at Park City, however, was short-lived.
“We stayed in Park City flats for 3 years,” the social worker stated. The reason for their sudden eviction, she claims, was allegedly because the building was considered “too beautiful” for an orphanage.
The social worker recounted a conversation with a government director who told her, “’No, we lack accommodation. Why would children come and be put here when we lack accommodation?’… I started getting verbal abuses that I am protecting children that are not mine.”
Their home was subsequently converted into accommodation for officials from the very department tasked with their protection: the Department of Social Development. The social worker alleges that top officials now live there comfortably with their families, paying rents ranging from a nominal R150 to R1,000.
This stands in stark contrast to the current reality for homeless youth in Mahikeng. The children who were moved from the home years ago are now adults, but a new generation faces the same vulnerability with no safe haven. Many are forced to survive by begging, doing odd jobs, or, in the case of young girls, selling themselves for sex to buy food and toiletries.
“Here in town, we get money by helping people to carry their belongings to where they are going,” one homeless youth said. Another expressed a desire to change his life, stating, “My talent is to do chairs and tables so that I can sell them… if I stay at a safe place I will be able to do them.”
They are exposed to extreme dangers. The social worker reported, “They are subjected to abuse, to rape, to violence,” alleging that security officers at a nearby guest house have informed her of older men sexually exploiting the homeless girls on the premises.
The Provincial Department of Public Works, which manages state property, confirmed that the Department of Social Development had voluntarily handed the building back.
“Park City initially was given to social development to utilize it for whatever purpose but particularly for purposes that falls within their responsibilities,” a department representative said. “They no longer use the building… they return the building to us… and we repurposed that building for purpose of revenue.”
The department refuted claims that officials are not paying rent, outlining a rental structure where occupants from level 1-12 pay up to approximately R2,600, and those from level 13-16 pay R4,000 and above, deductions for which are made directly from their salaries.
Attempts to get a response from the North West Department of Social Development were ignored. Written questions and a request to speak to the MEC went unanswered, leaving unresolved the central question: why were vulnerable children removed from a purpose-bought facility, and what is being done to protect them now?
Meanwhile, a separate, reportedly R53-million state-funded building commissioned in 2011 to house the Boikagong Child and Youth Centre also stands empty, having been later deemed unfit for use as an orphanage.
