fully furnished low cost (RDPs) for Elders
A day that brought excitement when the Department of Human Settlement and provincial department with its stakeholders put their efforts to work and assist government in addressing the challenges faced by residents.
MALAHLENI-Life will never be the same for two pensioners aged 85 and 77 who each received fully furnished low cost (RDP) houses from the department of Human Settlement in collaboration with other provincial departments and stakeholders in closure of the Women’s Month events held in Nhlalanikahle village, Emalahleni.
One of the recipients Gogo Martha Mokhomasi(85) used to share a dilapidated one room shack with her five grand children, where she enjoyed no privacy at all was overjoyed when her house keys were handed to her by MEC Norah Mahlangu-Mabena on behalf of the Department’s MEC Violet Siwela who was not present due to other commitments. Mahlangu Mabena was leading a team of officials from the Executive Council.
Mahlangu-Mabena highly commended the dedicated effort by the service providers TSSN and Machembe Construction and Projects, for putting furnisher of the two donated houses in the area.
“We appreciate their efforts to work and assist government in addressing the challenges faced by our people, their coming together and giving back for a good course helps every one of us to rapidly meet the needs of the less-fortunate,” she said.
The day also brought excitement to a 77-year-old Gogo Lilly Mabena who had also spent years sleeping in an old shack.
She said she was unable to build her own house due to poverty and being unemployed for better part of her life. “This is like heaven to me. I am thankful to our government for never forsaking us. I feel honoured and safe, from now on I will not worry that my roof may fall down on us as I used to in my old shack,”she said
During the Department’s 2015/16 budget vote, MEC for Settlement Ms Violet Siwela stated the Department will deliver a total of 17 561 housing opportunities which is constituted of 9 301 housing units and 8 260 sites across the province.
“The Department has resolved to prioritize the elderly, orphans, people with disability whilst servicing sites to ensure that water, sanitation, electricity and access roads come first before top structures,” She said.
