Letaba Herald investigates Talana saga

An expecting mom, Grace Mohlabe, received a letter from the Greater Tzaneen Municipality (GTM) telling her to leave her Temporary Residential Unit (TRU) as her name was not confirmed during the final confirmation of the list. She told Herald on the morning of Friday, 7 August, police together with some members of the Talana community came to her unit, 14A, demanding that she leave as soon as possible. “Mr Phakula from the GTM told me and other residents to evacuate our shacks immediately as it was not safe for and move to the new units.

“I destroyed my shack and now they are telling me to go back there, where am I going to stay with my baby when I have given birth?” he asked. Another resident confirmed Mohlabe’s version of events that they were told to evacuate their shacks immediately, however, the anonymous man said he is not pleased with members of the community who are now living in the new units but are still renting their old shacks. “It is not fair that a person now stays on the new units, but still rents their old shacks,” said the anonymous resident. Justice Mulovhedze, a security guard in Tzaneen (originally from Venda), said that he was one of the people who were on the first list to receive the new units, but he was shocked to not have received a house.

“What I don’t understand is that some of the people who didn’t get houses, received letters from the municipality giving reasons why they did not receive houses. “However when I didn’t receive that letter, I was so happy thinking that it means that I qualified to get into the new units, but to no avail,” Mulovhedze explained. GTM spokesperson, Neville Ndlala, told Herald that the Talana matter is a national issue as it is the National Housing Development Agency’s project. He said that some residents were issued letters to vacate due to foul play.

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“Some people got keys left by the contractor after finishing the project and started occupying the units without any permission. “Those who did not qualify either have RDP houses where they come from or they are having multiple shacks in Talana renting them out,” Ndlala explained. Ndlala also added that the final list was confirmed by the community itself. Herald visited the hostel site on Friday 7 August and it was clear that not everyone was not happy with the allocation of the houses.

The story made headlines national after people learnt that each unit was about R64 000. Sowetan reported that they had contacted a Vaal company that sells similar structures. “Nosipho Tshawe, an HR official at Tshepiso, said their two-room shacks were going for R6,450 while their one-room shelters went for R4,700 and they delivered nationwide,” according to Sowetan. Mohlabe said she is worried that should it rain her unit might be swept away as it is placed on top of loose bricks. Mohlabe also added that she is not pleased with the quality of the house as the floor has started to give away and formed a gap in the floor.

She also added that part of the cover of the wall had to be readjusted as it was pulling away from the wall. Herald also saw a door that was taken out of one of the houses which apparently broke when the owner opened her new home.

“We would like to acknowledge that a reference to the multi-million project in the statement issued by our communicators prior to our visit to Talana was unfortunate as it has also contributed to some of these concerns,” explained Limpopo premier, Stanley Mathabatha, during a media briefing recently.

Meanwhile the minister of human settlement, Lindiwe Sisulu said that Mathabatha was not supposed to have been invited to hand over the TRU’s without the provincial team first ensuring that these were of acceptable quality. “Once the review is done, I will brief Cabinet on the outcome. I do not wish to be associated with unbecoming conduct or have my name mentioned alongside suspicions of corruption,” said Sisulu.