More than 760 people across the Eastern Cape received keys to new homes this week.
They are among 8800 residents who qualified to receive RDP houses this financial year (2016-17).
One of them was Thandeka Mntuyedwa, 60, of Manyano informal settlement in Mdantsane’s Unit 9, who was bursting with excitement yesterday while showing off her new home to the Daily Dispatch.
Mntuyedwa has been living in a shack for more than 30 years with her family while working at a wool and thread factory shop in Wilsonia.
They have had to seek refuge in a community hall on five occasions since moving to the area 30 years years ago after the shack was destroyed in various disasters.
Each time they have had to pick up the pieces and start again.
The worst incident occurred in 2002 when a fire broke out while Mntuyedwa was at work and they lost everything in the fire, including identity documents.
Mntuyedwa was unable to get her grandchild’s support grant for several months as she battled to get money to apply for a new ID.
Her smart new two-bedroomed house, which has been built opposite the site where her shack used to be erected, has an open-plan kitchen with lounge, running piped water, toilets and electricity.
Mntuyedwa said living in a shack had been a life of uncertainty.
“It is one of the most terrifying ways to live because when you go anywhere for more than an hour you expect to find all your
belongings in ashes and you will have to re-start your life all over,” she said.
Mntuyedwa has already started work on a garden in front of her house and has planted flowers.
Department of human settlements spokesman Lwandile Sicwetsha said 8856 new houses had been completed by the department.
He said of these, 6816 had already been serviced across the province.
Sicwetsha said their target was to give each beneficiary a title deed to ensure they were the rightful homeowners.
“To date, 8070 title deeds have been transferred to rightful beneficiaries,” said Sicwetsha.
The numbers of beneficiaries this year who also received title deeds are from areas including Raymond Mhlaba (the new municipality which covers Alice, Fort Beaufort and Bedford) – 4999; Ndlambe – 178; Great Kei – 23; Nxuba Yethemba – 1009; Mqanduli – 1265; Buffalo City Metro – 516; and Nelson Mandela Metro – 80.
Sicwetsha said the department had also completed two state-of-the-art multi-purpose facilities at Thaba-Chicha in Matatiele and Deberha in Engcobo.
They will cater for community sport and social functions.
“Both these facilities were handed over to their respective municipalities of Matatiele and Engcobo in July and October,” he said. — simthandilef@dispatch.co.za
Home at last – after 30 years
They are among 8800 residents who qualified to receive RDP houses this financial year (2016-17).
One of them was Thandeka Mntuyedwa, 60, of Manyano informal settlement in Mdantsane’s Unit 9, who was bursting with excitement yesterday while showing off her new home to the Daily Dispatch.
Mntuyedwa has been living in a shack for more than 30 years with her family while working at a wool and thread factory shop in Wilsonia.
They have had to seek refuge in a community hall on five occasions since moving to the area 30 years years ago after the shack was destroyed in various disasters.
Each time they have had to pick up the pieces and start again.
The worst incident occurred in 2002 when a fire broke out while Mntuyedwa was at work and they lost everything in the fire, including identity documents.
Mntuyedwa was unable to get her grandchild’s support grant for several months as she battled to get money to apply for a new ID.
Her smart new two-bedroomed house, which has been built opposite the site where her shack used to be erected, has an open-plan kitchen with lounge, running piped water, toilets and electricity.
Mntuyedwa said living in a shack had been a life of uncertainty.
“It is one of the most terrifying ways to live because when you go anywhere for more than an hour you expect to find all your
belongings in ashes and you will have to re-start your life all over,” she said.
Mntuyedwa has already started work on a garden in front of her house and has planted flowers.
Department of human settlements spokesman Lwandile Sicwetsha said 8856 new houses had been completed by the department.
He said of these, 6816 had already been serviced across the province.
Sicwetsha said their target was to give each beneficiary a title deed to ensure they were the rightful homeowners.
“To date, 8070 title deeds have been transferred to rightful beneficiaries,” said Sicwetsha.
The numbers of beneficiaries this year who also received title deeds are from areas including Raymond Mhlaba (the new municipality which covers Alice, Fort Beaufort and Bedford) – 4999; Ndlambe – 178; Great Kei – 23; Nxuba Yethemba – 1009; Mqanduli – 1265; Buffalo City Metro – 516; and Nelson Mandela Metro – 80.
Sicwetsha said the department had also completed two state-of-the-art multi-purpose facilities at Thaba-Chicha in Matatiele and Deberha in Engcobo.
They will cater for community sport and social functions.
“Both these facilities were handed over to their respective municipalities of Matatiele and Engcobo in July and October,” he said. — simthandilef@dispatch.co.za
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