‘Our shack was better,’ says Nellmapius man of new RDP house

A Nellmapius family said their brand new RDP house may look pretty from the outside, but inside it is a mess.

“Like many other families in the area we were so happy to be chosen as a beneficiary to get a free RDP house,” said William Phaahlamohlaka (56) from extension 24.

“But life was actually better in our old shack.”

His family was one of several beneficiaries of the new RDP houses to be built by the Housing Development Agency in 2015.

Little did they suspect that they would get an unfinished house.

“The house’s foundation is very low, so when it rains the place gets flooded.”

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He claimed the contractor gave him the keys to the house in 2015 and told them to move into the house in the meantime until they would come back and finish all the touch-ups.

Phaahlamohlaka said he never signed a receipt letter that he was satisfied with the house because the contractor promised to come back and finish up their work.

“Everyone in my family was so excited to be finally moving out of a shack into a beautiful RPD house,” he said.

“But the contract workers never came back. They were supposed to install a geyser, finish up the ceiling and the plastering on the ground right around the house, but they never returned.”

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He said it took almost seven years of complaining about the house to the local ward councillor in Nellmapius and the contractor before they promised to come and look at the house.

“Still no one came and now we have water coming into the house when it’s raining.”

Phaahlamohlaka added that he used money from his savings to build a room attached to the front of the house with a foundation that is a bit higher than the new RDP house.

This prevents water from getting into the house – unless it rains heavily. Then the house gets flooded via the kitchen door.

“We want our house to be rebuilt as soon as possible because the rain is damaging our furniture,” he said.

The Tshwane metro and the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements have yet to comment.

This article first appeared on Caxton publication Pretoria Rekord’s website, by Stephen Selaluke. Read the original article here.