Families stuck in shacks because of government squabble
Housing project halted while municipality and contractor differ over invoice
More than ten families have been living in tin shacks in Imbali, Pietermaritzburg, since 2011. Their houses were wrecked by a storm in 2011 and they were moved by the Msunduzi Municipality to shacks in what should have been a temporary measure.
They were prioritised for a housing project in 2012, four years ago. But the project has ground to a halt due to problems between the municipality and the contractor.
Residents occupying the shacks in Imbali say that although their houses were affected by the storm, at least they had flushing toilets and electricity.
The residents now share one toilet, with a blanket as a door. Fixed to its wall is a communal water pipe.
Nomkhosi Maphanga lives with her four children in one-room. The family must also cook and bath in the room. She is unemployed and she is being treated for TB.
“[Before] I stayed in a four-roomed house,” she says. “The agreement was that we stay here for months, while they build new houses.”
Residents say they don’t feel safe.
“We have people coming here and telling us that they are owners of the sites [where the metal houses are located]. They come now and then to remind us that the sites belong to them. They tell us we have to go because they bought these sites,” says Maphanga.
“This is the kind of life we are living,” says Sbongile Magasela, sitting around a fire with other residents She has five children. One of them has asthma.
She also says her old house was badly damaged but it was better than the current situation.
“In winter we suffer and in summer we are exposed to snakes as we live near the forest … The sad thing is no one cares. Our ward councillor has not even visited us – just to tell us what is holding the process, and what is the way forward.
“They must just forget about my vote. No human being deserves to live like this. We are suffering and they don’t even pretend to care. They only care for votes and nothing else,” says Magasela.
Spokesperson for the KZN Department of Human Settlement Mbulelo Baloyi says R160 million has been approved for the stalled project to resume.
According to Baloyi, the implementing agent, Fairfield, was at odds with the municipality over an initial invoice for a site establishment payment.
Ward 17 councillor Philisiwe Sithole, who is not standing for re-election, said, “I have informed the people who are living there. I do update them in community meetings if there are developments regarding the project.”
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