Angry Mdantsane residents protest quality of RDP houses

The residents accuse the Siyavuma construction company of using sand and too little cement to build the houses. The company has denied this.

Among the 50 residents were four employees who also accuse the company of not paying them last month’s salary.

Residents told GroundUp that they were afraid the houses would break before they moved in. This project of the Buffalo City Metro Municipality involves 120 houses.

When GroundUp visited the area, residents were standing next to the site demanding answers from the site manager. According to residents when they were relocated in February this year, they were told that they will get their houses by the end of August, but so far only 11 houses had been built and even those had not been completed.

GroundUp saw two bricklayers working with five assistants. Residents said that since June a number of workers left because they had not been paid.

Community leader Bonelwa Maseti said residents would not move into houses which had not been properly built. She said some of the buildings already had cracks. “We want this construction company to rebuild these houses, using cement, not only sand,” said Maseti. She said residents had noticed that there was no cement on the site. “We want to work with this construction company but they must not rob us. They must pay workers so that they can build proper houses,” she said.

One worker on the site said he earned R400 a month. Another, Mlungisi Yongo, said he had quit after he was paid R80 a month. “I felt used and didn’t know what to do, that is why I decided to quit the job,” he said.

The site manager, who did not want to be named, said it was the first time he had heard of the residents’ grievances. He said it was not true that the company did not use enough cement.

The company was doing everything by the book, he said, and was paying the sub-contractors enough to pay the workers properly.

Ward councillor Sakhumzi Caga said he was aware of residents’ grievances and had informed the provincial human settlements department.

The Buffalo City municipality did not respond to requests for comment.