A delighted elderly Grahamstown couple finally received their spanking new RDP home this week after a five-year wait.Not even the fact that their new home in Grahamstown’s Mayfield housing development had been vandalised detracted from the joy of Dekelesi and Nofanele Ngesi this week.
As soon as the contractors have replaced the stolen doors, windows, taps and fittings, the couple hope to move in, sweep the goat droppings and other mess out and live happily ever after.
The frail couple currently live in a one-bedroom weather-beaten mud hut balanced precariously on a green hillside in nearby Zolani.
Their daughter and two grandchildren share their home.
But their five-year wait is not unusual in Grahamstown where communities in several wards have resorted to protest action amidst allegations of corruption and queue jumping in the housing allocation process.
Executive mayor Zamuxolo Peter last year admitted they faced corruption in the housing department with some officials taking bribes or putting family and friends first.
The Ngesi family finally got their home after resorting to the Grahamstown-based Legal Resources Centre for assistance.
LRC candidate attorney Dumisani Faku took up their case and began writing letters to Makana Municipality and Housing Settlements MEC Helen Sauls-August.
Faku says Ngesi was approved for a housing subsidy and allocated a site in the Eluxolweni housing project in 2009. But the project was completed in 2010 and he did not get a house.
The municipality finally informed him the site allocated to him had been too rocky and that Ngesi had, by council resolution, been allocated a house in the Mayfield housing project in 2011.
However, phase one of the Mayfield project came and went and still Ngesi had no home. Finally, after the intervention of the LRC, he was allocated a house in phase two of the project in which more than 1000 houses were built.
Faku said he had dozens of other clients who were allocated sites in various housing projects which had been completed without them actually receiving a house.
“We are doing our best to sort it out through negotiations to avoid burdening the public purse with legal costs through litigation.”
But he said the LRC would litigate if forced to.
An official in the Makana housing department who did not wish to be named said the contractor would replace the doors and fittings before the Ngesi family moved in.
He said it was fairly common for the new houses to be vandalised if the new owners did not move in immediately.
Elderly couple breathe easier with new home
As soon as the contractors have replaced the stolen doors, windows, taps and fittings, the couple hope to move in, sweep the goat droppings and other mess out and live happily ever after.
The frail couple currently live in a one-bedroom weather-beaten mud hut balanced precariously on a green hillside in nearby Zolani.
Their daughter and two grandchildren share their home.
But their five-year wait is not unusual in Grahamstown where communities in several wards have resorted to protest action amidst allegations of corruption and queue jumping in the housing allocation process.
Executive mayor Zamuxolo Peter last year admitted they faced corruption in the housing department with some officials taking bribes or putting family and friends first.
The Ngesi family finally got their home after resorting to the Grahamstown-based Legal Resources Centre for assistance.
LRC candidate attorney Dumisani Faku took up their case and began writing letters to Makana Municipality and Housing Settlements MEC Helen Sauls-August.
Faku says Ngesi was approved for a housing subsidy and allocated a site in the Eluxolweni housing project in 2009. But the project was completed in 2010 and he did not get a house.
The municipality finally informed him the site allocated to him had been too rocky and that Ngesi had, by council resolution, been allocated a house in the Mayfield housing project in 2011.
However, phase one of the Mayfield project came and went and still Ngesi had no home. Finally, after the intervention of the LRC, he was allocated a house in phase two of the project in which more than 1000 houses were built.
Faku said he had dozens of other clients who were allocated sites in various housing projects which had been completed without them actually receiving a house.
“We are doing our best to sort it out through negotiations to avoid burdening the public purse with legal costs through litigation.”
But he said the LRC would litigate if forced to.
An official in the Makana housing department who did not wish to be named said the contractor would replace the doors and fittings before the Ngesi family moved in.
He said it was fairly common for the new houses to be vandalised if the new owners did not move in immediately.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending Now
Latest Videos