Alex Matlala
LIMPOPO -Barely a year after R560 million meant for housing was returned back to the National Treasury Department because Coghsta had failed to spend the money, a impoverished family of 11 still lives in a single roomed mud hut a stones throw away from where Cooperative Governance, Human Settlement and Traditional Affairs (Coghsta) MEC, Makoma Makhurupetje’s grew up.
Rachael Malatji lives with her five children and five grandchildren in Mawa Block 12 in Bolobedu near Tzaneen in a tiny single room under a dilapidated roof, and has done so since 1994.
Villager and community activist, Joseph Mohale, said the plight of the Malatji family indicates beyond any shadow of a doubt that Makhurupetje does not have the interest of her people at heart.
The mud hut has developed cracks that could cause it to collapse at any time, Malatji said. “We applied for an RDP house in 2005. But since then, the authorities have sent us from pillar to post. I sleep in the same room as my children, one of whom is my 23-year-old son and sometimes I am forced to respond to the call of nature in front of him,” Malatji explained her predicament.
She said the situation had made some of her children experiment with sex at an early age. She said some of her children lived with her as they had nowhere else to go and their relationships had ended.
“This is not a war. All I am asking for is a decent roof over my head and nothing else. I believe even if the MEC fails to assist me directly, the local councillor and municipality, together with community development workers, will do so,” she said as she cried softly.
EFF provincial leader, Mike Mathebe, said the money that was sent back to the National Treasury Department would have come in handy for the Malatji family and many others who had to brave the cold winter weather to sleep in leaking and dilapidated houses.
“Instead, the money was redistributed to Mpumalanga, Western Cape and Eastern Cape, among others. This whole debacle questions whether Makhurupetje is genuine as a leader,” Mathebe further said. DA Limpopo leader, Jacques Smalle, alleged that the allocation of houses was manipulated by some ward councillors and those entrusted to oversee the projects. Smalle said because of this, some houses ended up in the wrong hands leaving the true beneficiaries living below the breadline.
A ward councillor in the area, Emily Ramolefo, said the Malatji family was on the waiting list for indigent families earmarked to receive RDP houses from government. She said the ward, which consists of six villages, has about 700 families waiting for the houses.
Makhurupetje said the matter referred to (R560 million) was in the previous financial year of 2014/2015. “We are in 2015/2016 and there is no threat of reducing our current budget. Next week all mayors will finalise the priority list for this year and we will ensure that families like the Malatji’s get priority,” she said.
