King Sabata Dalindyebo (KSD) municipal bosses have been caught out in a lie. The municipality authority has since 2012 been boasting about the construction of 200 new RDP homes in Mthatha’s oldest township of Ngangelizwe using alternative building technologies as part of a new concept called Breaking New Ground (BNG).
In line with the concept, the alternative technologies allow for the construction of different types of RPD houses, with each unit specific to the taste of that beneficiary.
The 200 houses were to be built for township residents of a section popularly referred to as Back or Nomagazi, an area populated by mud houses.
Angry residents contacted the Saturday Dispatch, saying the majority of them had been waiting for years to move into their new homes. In some cases, the beneficiaries had already died.
The Dispatch published a report in 2012 when KSD mayor Nonkoliso Ngqongwa told residents of Mthatha West, during the hand-over of a housing project to build around 6600 homes in informal settlements, that the municipality was the second pilot in the country for the construction of houses that could withstand all types of weather conditions using alternative technologies.
She said some had already been built in Ngangelizwe.
A recent KSD municipal letter, however, states the R18-million project only started in September 2013 and was close to completion.
When the Saturday Dispatch visited the area yesterday, fewer than 10 of the promised 200 houses had been completed.
One of the residents, Vuyani Matuka, said his father Godfrey Matuka, who was one of the beneficiaries of the project, had passed away last year.
“His main wish was to have lived in a proper RDP house before he died. But that was never realised,” said Matuka showing his father’s incomplete house.
Construction started in 2012, but it is alleged that the contractor vanished without completing the job.
“I am unemployed and therefore cannot build myself a house,” said Matuka, who earns a living by selling homemade traditional brew from his mud home.
Ward councillor Nompucuko Jijana could not be reached for comment. KSD municipal spokesman Sonwabo Mampoza said he would interact with his principals in the municipality on the matter.
“We will then issue a statement later,” he said.
Back Association secretary Sonwabile Ngalonkulu questioned why only 200 people had been approved for the project when hundreds more lived in squalor.
He also blamed authorities for keeping beneficiaries in the dark.
“There is no update from anyone at all.”
Bantwana Sangovana, 66, who walks with the aid of stick after suffering a stroke in the 1980s, said the last contractor he had seen was last year.
He also lives in a mud house with his wife, eight children and grandchildren.
He said he was scared the house, which he described as unstable, would collapse one day.
Sangovana was also disheartened by the fact that less than a kilometre from his home stood proper RDP homes built for people of Silverton popularly known as KwaStwayi. The Silverton project started after theirs.
“It seems they have forgotten about us,” he said. — sikhon@dispatch.co.za
KSD lied about houses
In line with the concept, the alternative technologies allow for the construction of different types of RPD houses, with each unit specific to the taste of that beneficiary.
The 200 houses were to be built for township residents of a section popularly referred to as Back or Nomagazi, an area populated by mud houses.
Angry residents contacted the Saturday Dispatch, saying the majority of them had been waiting for years to move into their new homes. In some cases, the beneficiaries had already died.
The Dispatch published a report in 2012 when KSD mayor Nonkoliso Ngqongwa told residents of Mthatha West, during the hand-over of a housing project to build around 6600 homes in informal settlements, that the municipality was the second pilot in the country for the construction of houses that could withstand all types of weather conditions using alternative technologies.
She said some had already been built in Ngangelizwe.
A recent KSD municipal letter, however, states the R18-million project only started in September 2013 and was close to completion.
When the Saturday Dispatch visited the area yesterday, fewer than 10 of the promised 200 houses had been completed.
One of the residents, Vuyani Matuka, said his father Godfrey Matuka, who was one of the beneficiaries of the project, had passed away last year.
“His main wish was to have lived in a proper RDP house before he died. But that was never realised,” said Matuka showing his father’s incomplete house.
Construction started in 2012, but it is alleged that the contractor vanished without completing the job.
“I am unemployed and therefore cannot build myself a house,” said Matuka, who earns a living by selling homemade traditional brew from his mud home.
Ward councillor Nompucuko Jijana could not be reached for comment. KSD municipal spokesman Sonwabo Mampoza said he would interact with his principals in the municipality on the matter.
“We will then issue a statement later,” he said.
Back Association secretary Sonwabile Ngalonkulu questioned why only 200 people had been approved for the project when hundreds more lived in squalor.
He also blamed authorities for keeping beneficiaries in the dark.
“There is no update from anyone at all.”
Bantwana Sangovana, 66, who walks with the aid of stick after suffering a stroke in the 1980s, said the last contractor he had seen was last year.
He also lives in a mud house with his wife, eight children and grandchildren.
He said he was scared the house, which he described as unstable, would collapse one day.
Sangovana was also disheartened by the fact that less than a kilometre from his home stood proper RDP homes built for people of Silverton popularly known as KwaStwayi. The Silverton project started after theirs.
“It seems they have forgotten about us,” he said. — sikhon@dispatch.co.za
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