More than 60 Lilyvale farm families near Kayser’s Beach are living in squalor in a camp built in 2010 by Amathole district municipality.
The prefabricated structures were meant to host the families for six months while government sought a permanent solution to their housing needs.
“This door needs a ramp for me to walk on. Many times I fall trying to walk out of the house. It is a struggle to climb into the house because it is high up from the ground.”
Zamikhaya Marhwanqa, 42, said the structures were extremely cold during poor weather conditions and unbearably hot on summer days.
“The doors are unlockable because they have bloated due to exposure to rain.”
Marhwanqa said during floods the water levels reached chest level. Just metres from the camp, construction of 88 low-cost houses is at foundation level.
“Not a single one of us is a beneficiary of those houses,” said Marhwanqa. “The way I see it is the government wants us to die here.”
Xolisa Klaas, 27, is a keen soccer player but said a lack of facilities at the camp had scuppered his dream of playing at the highest level.
“We’ve tried several times to construct a soccer pitch but it gets damaged by floods because this area is not conducive for people to do anything in.”
Community leader Mpumelelo Wethu, 37, said they were evicted from a local farm after it was bought by a Zimbabwean farmer.
He said ADM had built the temporary structures and promised to build proper houses that would be ready “within six months”.
Amathole district municipality spokesman Siyabulela Makunga said the municipality could only go as far as giving destitute families temporary structures.
“It is the responsibility of the department of human settlements to build those people permanent houses.”
Human settlements spokesman Lwandile Sicwetsha referred questions back to ADM.
“Talk to the municipality because it is their function to apply for subsidies and projects to the province.”
ADM failed to respond to a further set of questions e-mailed on Friday.
60 families suffer as ADM fails to keep housing promise
The prefabricated structures were meant to host the families for six months while government sought a permanent solution to their housing needs.
“This door needs a ramp for me to walk on. Many times I fall trying to walk out of the house. It is a struggle to climb into the house because it is high up from the ground.”
Zamikhaya Marhwanqa, 42, said the structures were extremely cold during poor weather conditions and unbearably hot on summer days.
“The doors are unlockable because they have bloated due to exposure to rain.”
Marhwanqa said during floods the water levels reached chest level. Just metres from the camp, construction of 88 low-cost houses is at foundation level.
“Not a single one of us is a beneficiary of those houses,” said Marhwanqa. “The way I see it is the government wants us to die here.”
Xolisa Klaas, 27, is a keen soccer player but said a lack of facilities at the camp had scuppered his dream of playing at the highest level.
“We’ve tried several times to construct a soccer pitch but it gets damaged by floods because this area is not conducive for people to do anything in.”
Community leader Mpumelelo Wethu, 37, said they were evicted from a local farm after it was bought by a Zimbabwean farmer.
He said ADM had built the temporary structures and promised to build proper houses that would be ready “within six months”.
Amathole district municipality spokesman Siyabulela Makunga said the municipality could only go as far as giving destitute families temporary structures.
“It is the responsibility of the department of human settlements to build those people permanent houses.”
Human settlements spokesman Lwandile Sicwetsha referred questions back to ADM.
“Talk to the municipality because it is their function to apply for subsidies and projects to the province.”
ADM failed to respond to a further set of questions e-mailed on Friday.
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