Backlog for RDP houses in Gauteng stands at about 500 000

The backlog for RDP houses in Gauteng currently stands at about 500 000, human settlements MEC Paul Mashatile said on Tuesday morning.

Speaking to The Citizen on the sidelines of the Mandela Day event held in Drieziek, in Orange Farm, south of Johannesburg, Mashatile acknowledged the backlog was huge.

He called on residents to exercise a bit more patience, as the provincial government was working round the clock to ensure the backlog is dealt with.

Mashatile joined Premier David Makhura in the area to help build houses for some of the residents as part of their 67 minutes of giving back to the community.

“We want to appeal to the communities to work with us as well to ensure that we improve people’s lives,” he said. The area in question and others in the province have in recent weeks been gripped by violent service delivery protests.

Mashatile also believes some of the protests have been instigated, stressing it was not as if government had not been doing anything to deliver services to the people.

Makhura, while addressing local residents earlier, called on everyone, including private companies, to work with government in improving the lives of people.

“We want to realise the dream of not having a single person being homeless,” the premier said.

The premier and the MEC have been helping build some of the houses that are still under construction since early Tuesday morning.