Gogo Nomgqibelo Mkhwanazi will have have her house rebuilt after a car smashed into her living room in the early hours of the morning last month.
Mkhwanazi believed she was saved by the power of prayer.
Ward 105 Councillor Joyce Ngwenya said the housing department of the City of Johannesburg, which holds the government insurance liabilities for the RDP houses in Alex, has agreed to demolish the house first and then rebuild it from scratch.
“They have decided to take the route of demolishing the house first due to the cracks and the structural defects that happened when the car came smashing in.
“The housing department felt the house would not be structurally safe if they did not go that route, as it might collapse on ugogo at a later stage due to structural defects,” Ngwenya said.
She said the only issue that might delay the start of the work was that the city council would have to first find alternative accommodation for Mkhwanazi.
“I cannot give a time frame for the rebuilding work, but all I can say is that the city would like to see the house rebuilt as soon as possible,” Ngwenya said.
Mkhwanazi, a member of the Swiss mission Church in Alexandra, always wakes up in the early hours of the morning to pray, and the morning of 29 June was no different. Mkhwanazi said she awoke as usual for her morning prayers at 3am.
While in the middle of her prayer, Mkhwanazi said she heard a loud bang and dismissed it as probably a speeding car that had crashed. She continued with her prayer until neighbours came banging on her door, calling on her to come out of the house as it might collapse.
To her horror, she opened her bedroom to discover a BMW car and her neighbour’s gates inside her living room. She later learnt that the vehicle was being driven by a drunk boy with his friend as a passenger, and the driver lost control of the speeding car.
A case was opened with the police and the owner of the car, Nqobile Hlabangane of Lombardy East who was not in the car at the time, offered to repair the house and had purchased the bricks for the repairs.
However, Ngwenya thwarted Hlabangane’s offer on the grounds that the government insurance held by the City of Johannesburg would undertake the repair.
