LIMPOPO, SOUTH AFRICA JULY 05: Unfinished RDP houses that have been illegally occupied by shack dwellers on July 06, 2016 in Limpopo, South Africa. The Mookgophong residents have occupied houses that were built on stands they have been living in for years. (Photo by Gallo Images / Sowetan / Sandile Ndlovu)
A Limpopo family of 12 which shared a one-room shack for more than four years had an early Christmas present this week when Sekhukhune mayor Julia Mathebe presented them with a house.
Agnes Mamosadi’s family in Tambo Section, Elandsdoring, outside Groblersdal, comprises the parents, six children and four grandchildren.
Mamosadi said her constant pleas for an RDP house fell on deaf ears. This despite the Limpopo department of cooperative governance, human settlements and traditional affairs having set aside R520 million for the construction of 4 394 RDP houses this financial year.
Only 2 245 houses were completed.
Speaking to The Citizen soon after the family was handed the keys for the new five-room house on Wednesday, Mamosadi said: “All thanks goes to mayor Mathebe for opening her heart and her wallet to help us.
“South Africa needs leaders like Mathebe. If you bring the ballot box now and here, I will not hesitate. I will vote for Mme Mathebe for a second term,” joked Mamosadi, wiping away happy tears.
“I started living in this shack with my husband, children and grandchildren after no company or department wanted to employ us because we are not educated,” she said. “I used my children’s social grant payouts to build this shack.”
Mamosadi said life had been very difficult. “Each time clouds gathered, we panicked. We feared this shack my cave in and fall on us. But that is all water under the bridge now.”
However, Mathebe – who is also Sekhukhune ANC regional chair – did not do all this on her own. She had to knock doors of service providers to get funds.
Speaking to The Citizen yesterday, businessman and donor Fortunate Mahlo said it was the tradition of her company to extend a helping hand to those in need.
“When mayor Mathebe approached us, we did not hesitate to help because that is what my company is all about – helping the less fortunate.
“It takes two parents to give birth to a child but the whole community to raise the same child.
We have been doing this all the years in communities where we do business. It is called ploughing back to the community. It goes without saying that without these communities, we are nothing.”
Mathebe said the municipality did not have a budget to build houses for everyone.
“But after seeing the unbearable conditions which Mamosadi and her family had to endure every day, I stood up and asked for assistance.
“Today, I am sleeping like a baby in my house knowing that I managed to provide shelter for another family. You must remember, water is life and shelter is dignity,” said Mathebe.
The house has three bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom, a living room and an outside toilet.
The family also received new furniture and will receive groceries the week before Christmas.
All these cost R350 000.
Mathebe handed over another house to the Ramphisa family in Ntoane village outside Dennilton.
The family always had to ask for refuge from good Samaritans during rainy days as their two-room mud house was a danger as it had developed huge cracks.
– news@citizen.co.za
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