Villagers fume over ‘abandoned’ RDP houses
The main contractor, however, cited reasons for the unfinished houses
LIMPOPO – Residents in ward 11 and 12 of the Makhado Municipality and others in the Collins Chabane Municipality are fuming after a contractor left more than half of the RDP houses in the Tshivhuyuni, Muwaweni, Wayeni and Mufeba areas incomplete.
The National Chairperson of Parliament’s Oversight Committee for the Department of Human Settlements (Coghsta), Faith Muthambi, Speaker of Makhado Municipality, Lindiwe Mohale and the ward councillor visited the area last Sunday, where beneficiaries claim they cannot complete the houses using their own money.Construction on the project is said to have been halted some three years ago and residents now demand to know why.
One beneficiary, Tshifhiwa Munyai stood on the foundation that has been left unfinished since 2018. “I was happy when they dug the foundation trenches in my yard. I thought my children would have their own room. Instead, people later came to refill the trenches,” she said.
“I wish I had money. I could have completed my house, which was left incomplete. It is painful and very disappointing because I was looking forward to having my own home and hopes of a better life. My heart is aching.”
Muthambi described the situation as “fruitless and wasteful” expenditure.
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“The municipality and councillors are fooling around with our people and should take responsibility for failing to monitor the project.”
She said during her visit to the village she would not tolerate shoddy developers who did not finish projects after they had been awarded tenders. “Harsh measures will be taken against contractors who do not take their jobs seriously after being awarded tenders,” she said. “We don’t want service providers who, when awarded a tender, forget about the project. We need people who are serious about service,” said Muthambi.
She said she is going to meet with the MEC of Coghsta, Basikopo Makamu to request him to investigate the project. Coghsta Spokesperson, Masedi Molebatsi said a commitment had been made that all the projects in the province would be completed. “We are aware of the housing shortage in the province. We know that there are people who have been waiting for their houses for a long time.”
The contractor that was appointed in 2018 from Dipetle General Construction, Florence Rangata, however, told CV she was awarded a tender of R7 million by Coghsta to build houses in the area, but after what they cited as budget cuts, she only received R4 million and was told that no more houses should be built.
As she had already started on all the houses, this resulted in 15 houses being left unfinished at Muwaweni, one at Mufeba, 10 at Muwaweni and one at Tshivhuyuni. She reiterated that the department had reneged on their part of the contract and that that was the reason for the unfinished houses.Molebatsi requested that many houses in the province still need to be completed. He appealed to the affected families to be patient, while their problems are being attended to.
