Less than a month after Buffalo City Metro concluded its Integrated Development Plan roadshow programme, a councillor in one of the poorer wards has described the metro’s housing programme as a “shambles”.
ANC ward 12 councillor Gwebile Gosani – whose area covers Mdantsane’s NU1, Smiling Valley, Nahoon Dam and Eureka – blamed slow service delivery in his ward on local government infighting and a “lack of funds”.
“People are left to suffer [because of] the infighting that is happening in government. You sometimes find funds being passed through council, and people are told when work will commence, then nothing happens, only to find the process has been halted over money disagreements between the municipality and the contractor,” he said.Gosani cited a sanitation project in Gqozo village as an example. He said the project commenced in 2015, but the construction company tasked with building toilets in the area had refused to work due to payment disagreements with the municipality.“They just left pit holes. The community has been protesting about the uncovered pit holes [ever since] because it is very dangerous for them and their children.”
The ward faces a backlog in its RDP housing. About 420 units were meant to be built in Velwano, Mdantsane North but only 286 have been so far built.
“The allocation system is in shambles. You have three people occupying one house, some houses are vandalised because there are no people occupying them and the municipality says there are no funds to carry on building the new projects,” said Gosani.
In 2015, shack dwellers of Velwano who had relocated their shacks to make way for the promised RDP housing development had a standoff with residents of the former fibreglass railway workers’ hostels in Komponi, who claimed to have title deeds to the land awarded to them.
Having moved their shacks to make way for the development, the disgruntled residents now also further complain of cramped living space with a shortage of toilets and taps. The land in question runs from Linge to the railway station, covering most of Mdantsane north.
The Komponi residents, who have waited 25 years for houses, claimed they were never consulted by the municipality on plans to develop what they call “their land”.
In the same ward, about 500 households in informal settlements – mostly in Smiling Valley and Masizakhe in Mdantsane’s NU1 – are still waiting for electricity.
“The municipality told us that they have engaged with Eskom and they are still preparing a layout plan for the community.
“They even sent surveyors in recent years but still nothing has materialised,” he said...