Parliament for the People: Visit to RDP housing projects in Limpopo

On Monday, we visited a number of RDP housing projects in Limpopo along with DA Limpopo Provincial Leader Desiree van der Walt and DA MP Mpowele Swathe. We were also accompanied by DA MPLs Jacobus Smalle and Meisie Kennedy, DA Councillors Danie van Heerden and Moses Matlala, as well as a number of DA members and activists.

We visited three RDP housing projects across the province namely:

• an urban RDP housing project in Mokopane in the Mogalakwena municipality;
• a rural RDP housing project in the Motwaneng village in Marble Hall;
• a rural RDP housing project in the Makurung village in Lepelle-Nkumpi.

Visit our Parliament for the People webpage on the DA Media Centre where we have uploaded a detailed report and photos

By far the most disturbing things we found at the three housing projects we visited were the following:

• Houses have been built below ground level which results in sewage from higher lying extensions and rain water flowing into these houses;
• Houses have been abandoned by beneficiaries due to this flooding;
• Toilets have not been connected to sewerage pipes resulting in residents having to use the fields outside their houses and sewerage flowing into their houses through these open pipes;
• No running water or electricity supplied to the houses;
• Holes in the roof sheeting and no window panes in many of the houses;
• None of the resident's have signed "happy letters" when allocated their houses - a prerequisite which beneficiaries are meant to sign before occupying their houses;
• Slabs cast by contractors as far back as 2006 with no building taking place since then;
• People who were thrown out of their houses, which were demolished and have not been replaced;
• A number of RDP houses that have been half-built and are standing empty as a result;
• A family of seven orphans who have been promised a house four years ago are still waiting for their house which has been standing for years without a roof or windows.

We spoke to many of the people living in these three housing developments who told us how government officials visited them before the elections and made numerous promises including supplying them with candles on a regular basis and also that it would start building houses for them from 1 May 2009 - which has not happened.

The situation we found in Limpopo means the following:

• The housing backlog in the province continues to grow on a yearly basis;
• Money is wasted on building houses that are never completed or occupied;
• More money has to be spent to repair or rebuild houses that have not been properly built, resulting in houses costing way more than what was originally budgeted;
• A large number of contractors are paid despite reneging on their contracts and no action is ever taken against them.

The people worst affected by the current situation are the ordinary South Africans we met during our visit who continue to live without proper shelter and access to basic services such as running water, proper sanitation and electricity.

It is imperative that both the National Department of Human Settlements and the Limpopo Provincial Department of Local Government and Housing urgently intervene in this regard to ensure that the incomplete houses in the three areas we visited, as well as the rest of the province, are completed, that action is taken against contractors who fail to fulfil their contracts, and that money is spent efficiently and effectively when it comes to the provision of housing.

The DA will therefore be taking a number of action steps at both a national level in Parliament as well as a provincial level through the Limpopo Provincial Legislature to deal with the current housing crisis in Limpopo. We will also conduct a follow-up visit within a year to see whether any improvements have been made to these three housing projects.

We will provide continuous feedback on outcomes of our actions steps as well as what we find during our follow-up visit on our Parliament for the People webpage.

Joint statement by Athol Trollip, MP, Democratic Alliance parliamentary leader, and Butch Steyn, MP, DA shadow minister of human settlements, October 21 2009

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