First recipients get keys to new houses in Isipingo
The beneficiaries had waited since 2009 for the houses they had been promised.
RESIDENTS from the M35 transit camp in Isipingo could not hide their joy on Wednesday, June 28, when the first group was given keys to the new homes they had waited for since 2009.
The sprawling new complex, consisting of 360 double-storey units, was built by eThekwini Municipality and the Department of Human Settlements in Kanku Road, at a cost of R170m, to house people who were removed from informal settlements ahead of the 2010 World Cup.
Video: WATCH: Isipingo housing project takes shape
A ministerial delegation was led by Human Settlements minister Mmamoloko Kubayi, her deputy, Pam Tshwete, KwaZulu-Natal premier Nomusa Cube, MEC for Human Settlements and Public Works Sipho Nkosi, and eThekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda. Kaunda said the costs include the installation of internal bulk water and sewer services, a pump station, and roads. Each unit has two bedrooms and an open-plan lounge and kitchen area.
Kubayi warned against residents renting out or selling the houses they have been given.
“That is what happens in other places. We give a deserving family a house today, and five years later, there is another person living in that house, claiming to have bought it. These homes are for you and your children,” said Kubayi.
Nokukhaya Mcambi (19) said she was over the moon having moved out of the transit camp after living there since she was five years old.
“I had lost hope that I would ever move out of that dreadful and unsanitary place we were living in with my family. Now, I will be with other people and not be ashamed of where I come from,” said Mcambi.
Of the 360 units, 20 were handed over on the day. The relocation will be done in batches of 20 families as the municipality will have to demolish the 20 structures of each of the 20 relocated families at the transit camp.
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