PICS: Impoverished Colville stuns Ramaphosa into ordering housing talks

On his door-to-door blitz in the Northern Cape ahead of the ANC’s January 8 Statement in Kimberley tomorrow, a visibly stunned President Cyril Ramaphosa yesterday came face-to-face with dire poverty: a family of 42 squeezed into a tiny home in the township of Colville.

The visit to one of the country’s most impoverished areas led to him giving a directive to Premier Zamani Saul and officials in the province to urgently convene a meeting with Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu to address the housing crisis.

The president visited the home of pensioner Lydia Kock who shares a four-roomed home with her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, a brother and brother-in-law.

Colville resident Lydia Kock (R) with some of her family during President Cyril Ramaphosa’s visit to the area as part of his door to door visits at Colville – Floors Area, Ward 28 in Northern Cape, 9 January 2020. Picture: Nigel Sibanda

Ramaphosa spent time talking to Kock and her family inside their home, where space is a luxury. Inside the dingy house, there is no ceiling, the paint on the corrugated iron roof is peeling and every space, including the kitchen and lounge/dining-room, contains beds or mattresses.

There is no stove or tap in the kitchen and, instead, a bed and portable water basins are visible.

In the lounge/dining-room, clothes hang on the wall next to a television set and a two-plate electric stove.

Colville resident Lydia Kock, middle, with some of her family during President Cyril Ramaphosa’s visit to the area as part of his door to door visits at Colville – Floors Area, Ward 28 in Northern Cape, 9 January 2020. Picture: Nigel Sibanda

“We are poor, we live on state grants and are all unemployed. With President Ramaphosa having seen things for himself, we hope something will eventually happen,” said Kock.

Despite the scorching heat, Ramaphosa combed the streets of Kimberley talking to people in their homes.

“The president wanted to walk the streets to hear your concerns,” Saul told a crowd of ANC supporters at an outdoor gathering after the presidential blitz.

Some of Colville resident Lydia Kock’s family members during President Cyril Ramaphosa’s visit to the area as part of his door to door visits at Colville – Floors Area, Ward 28 in Northern Cape, 9 January 2020. Picture: Nigel Sibanda

Addressing the crowd, mainly in Afrikaans, Ramaphosa said: “The organisers wanted me to visit five houses and I insisted on seeing more – choosing at random. I know that sometimes they choose homes belonging to their friends.

“You have many problems here. I have come across this home with 42 people in it. It is something I was totally not happy to see. Housing is one of the critical problems here and I have directed the premier and mayor to urgently address the issue with the minister of human settlements.

“De Beers has given us land and we must build more houses. I have also come across houses without electricity and we have to ensure that they get electricity.

“Your streets are littered with potholes, water becoming stagnant and muddy when it rains. Many people, especially the youth, do not work. Drugs and alcohol abuse are another issue I have identified.”

The challenges faced by the Kock family are not unique in Colville, and resident Catherine du Bois showed him stagnant water and a heap of rubbish near her house that, she said, affected her health.

– brians@citizen.co.za

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