ERIC MATOME KGOMO
Leeuwfontein: The community of Leeuwfontein in Ephraim Mogale Local Municipality Ward 8 demand answers about unfinished RDP houses in the area.
The project was commissioned three years ago to benefit poor families in the township and was never completed.
The construction was abandoned by the contractor who only finished six houses, leaving ten of them roofless.
A community leader, who did not want to be named and also member of Ward 8 Concerned Residents Group, said the contractor disappeared after he was paid hundreds of thousands of rands in advance to complete the job, but leaving the project in despair.
“The construction stopped three years back and we demand to know why the project is abandoned without finding any answers,” he said.
He blames the ward councillor for allocating the only completed houses to his friends and failing to convene a community meeting to explain about the state of the unfinished RDP houses.
“The only people who got the houses are those connected to the ward councillor. The beneficiaries who applied for houses ten years ago are left stranded in dilapidating houses and shacks. Is shocking that some completed houses were even allocated to people working in the municipality,” he explained.
He said beneficiaries are now deciding to complete the houses on their own as they are now partially vandalized.
“This is the only solution as the unoccupied structures are now vandalized and we fear that criminals can use them as a hide-out place after victimizing the same community,” he said.
Furthermore, the community leader said RDP houses in other sections of the township are been occupied by undocumented foreign nationals who illegally bought the houses.
“The sad part is that a decade long wait for the beneficiaries is leading them to live in dilapidated thatched huts, mudded houses with leaking roofs while undocumented foreign nationals occupied their houses in a section called Maputo in the township. Nobody is doing anything about the situation. Even the law enforcement authorities knows but nothing has been done,” he said.
Ephraim Mogale Local Municipality Ward 8 Councillor, George Makanyane, denied allocating houses to friends and families.
“The approval and allocation of the houses is done by the Coghsta Department and has nothing to do with local government. Our only duty is to compile a database of RDP applicants and send it to relevant department for approval,” he said.
Makanyane indicated that the ten incomplete houses are not part of ward 8 due to ward demarcation. However, he said beneficiaries of the houses are residing in his ward and they know about the delay of the project.
“The project was halted after the contractor was fired as he was lacking capacity to complete the houses. The new contractor was appointed around November 2020 and currently on site to complete the houses in other villages because Leeuwfontein is not the only area that was affected. I can assure you the houses will be completed soon,” he said.
