City spent R8.5 million on solar installation but an oversight visit showed no panels or structures

The Emfuleni Municipality in Gauteng spent R8.5 million on a solar installation on the flyover bridge on the R42, but no installations were found on site.

This was revealed by Kingsol Chabalala, a Member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature and mayoral candidate in Emfuleni.

Chabalala tabled questions in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature about the details of the solar installation project.

“It was disclosed to me that the project started in July 2025, with a total of 368 solar panels reportedly installed,” Chabalala said.

“Of the 368 solar panels, 152 were reportedly stolen, while the report claims that only 116 remain intact.”

There is an immediate problem. The 152 panels, which were allegedly stolen and 116, which were intact, do not add up to the 368 installed.

However, it gets worse. Chabalala conducted an oversight visit to the project site and found no solar installations.

“This raises questions about the government’s accountability for the apparent absence of the solar installations,” he said.

“This conflicting information appears to be an attempt to mislead and confuse, preventing proper scrutiny of what happened to the money.”

He added that there are suspicions that no installation took place and that the money may have been stolen.

He added that this happened while the Emfuleni Municipality community suffered from poor service delivery and the misuse of public resources.

He questioned whether the MEC for Transport and Logistics could be trusted with an important portfolio while providing a thoughtless account to the public.

The R400 million bridge that leads to nowhere

The problem with the flyover bridge built on the R42 extends beyond the solar panels, which should have been installed.

Chabalala said that the Gauteng Department of Transport and Logistics, together with the Emfuleni Local Municipality, spent R400 million on the bridge.

The bridge was intended to link the northern developed area to the R42 and to support the future development of Vaal River City.

“The project has been plagued by delays and remains incomplete, while residents of Emfuleni continue to be deprived of efficient service delivery,” he said.

An even bigger problem is that the bridge leads to nowhere. “The failure to plan has resulted in the construction of a bridge that is effectively a dead end,” he said.

“There were two bridges allegedly built to connect to the flyover, yet both also led to dead ends. The cost of completing the connecting roads is estimated at R55 million.”

However, the connecting roads are dependent on the Vaal River City development, a private developer, securing funding for this portion of the work.

“The connecting roads never formed part of the original scope of the provincial road project and are situated on private land,” he said.

“Service delivery should take precedence over a bridge. The bridge is the least of Emfuleni’s residents’ concerns.”

He said that the R400 million could have been directed towards addressing inoperable rubbish dumps and raw sewerage flowing through the roads across the municipality.