Seniors shed a tear over unfinished RDP homes

“I pray every time it rains that this rondavel does not flatten me.”

These words were from elderly Mafumanekile Mzingeli, who held back tears as she showed the Dispatch inside her leaking rondavel home at Gabazi village in Qumbu.

A foundation slab lies idly between the two rondavels that Mzingeli shares with her family of six.

Her home is one of several RDP houses built in 2014.

The villagers were elated when construction started, but suddenly they were left hanging. Some even have incomplete walls.

“Every time I see that slab my heart breaks. I was so happy when we were told houses would be built,” said Mzingeli, 77.

No explanation was ever offered for why construction was halted.

“I worry whether the rondavel will survive. Every time it rains I make endless prayers and gather buckets and dishes to put underneath the leaking areas to catch the water,” she said. "Even the electricity box gets drenched. Maybe one day it will blow up with all of us inside here."

She uses her pension grant to take care of her late daughter's children and send them to school.

One of her rondavels was recently given a facelift, with money the elderly, limping woman received from a kindly neighbour.

“I don't want to die and meet my Maker in this situation. I need to die a peaceful death, knowing my grandchildren don't stay in these leaking huts.”

In a similar situation not far from her is Mavayedwa Caphukela, also 77, who lives alone in her dilapidated rondavel.

She thanks God every time storms and heavy rains pass.

The thatched roof of her home has been patched with new grass.

“I want to die in the home I was promised. We plead with whoever is responsible for this to proceed and finish our houses,” said Caphukela.

“I don't know where the problem lies but as a elderly person, this is a shame. Where has a wall stood for so many years without completion?”

She has paid people to maintain her rondavel time and again.

Human settlements MEC Nonkqubela Pieters' spokesperson, Masiza Mazizi, said the construction company that was awarded the project in 2014 could not perform due to health related challenges.

He said the company, Brainwave Projects, brought in the services of ZamaZondo Construction to boost its performance, but they could not perfom either.

“The National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC) identified non-compliance in six foundations and asked the contractor to stop the work until they had tested the strength of the foundations,” said Mazizi.

“The test results are expected on Thursday [this week] from NHBRC, and it is expected that work will resume.”

He said the department had submitted a request to provincial treasury for adjustment of the rate, and they were awaiting a response so that implementation could be fast-tracked.

“Communication with regard to the progress of this project has always been done regularly with the Mhlontlo municipality through the office of the mayor, the chief whip, the municipal manager and the ward councillor.”

ziyandaz@dispatch.co.za