'I fought for this country': ANC veteran tired of promises to fix RDP house

It was 2007 when Roseline Tshitshiwe gladly received the keys to her RDP house in Dice, East London. She had been living in a shack in Eziteneni. But little did she know how shoddily her new house had been built.

The ceiling board was left unfinished and crumbled; the roof leaks and wind and rain enter the home; the walls have cracks; and she thinks the foundation is failing.

“It’s been 11 years now,” says the 73-year-old, “and no one seems to care. Instead, they are using me for their campaigns.’’ (Tshitshiwe was arrested for attending ANC meetings during the apartheid era. The ANC now uses her name in their election campaign in the area.) She said government officials have visited her house several times, taken photographs and promised to fix the problems. Nothing ever happened.

“During rainy seasons, this house is always wet. At night, as old as I am, I have to move the bed to better corners to duck the rain,” she said. “When there is wind, the zincs [roofing] are moving up and down. I fear for my grandchildren.”

She said if she had the money, she’d demolish it and build a new one.

“I don’t know how many ANC officials have visited my house and promised to fix it but never come back. Then after a few years they come back to ask me to vote on a local government election still promising to fix my house. But after elections, I wont see them again,’’ she said.

“I fought for this country as well. I have been in prison, not once, not twice, but many times, but here I am living on an unfinished house,” she said.

“I have lost hope now that this house will ever be fixed. It is obvious that I will die in this condition because I have tried everything to make my voice heard with no success,’’ she said.

Buffalo City Metro Municipality (BCMM) spokesperson Bathandwa Diamond suggested that the matter be directed to the Eastern Cape Department of Human Settlements.

That human settlement department’s spokesperson Phiwokuhle Soga said, “We cannot speak on their position. Only BCMM can provide you with proper answers.”

GroundUp made several further attempts to get comment from BCMM, without success.

• This article was first published by GroundUp