Housing projects results still to be seen after 20 years
"We want what was promised to us – they have failed us after so many years we are still without houses."
Despite the housing backlog in Gauteng, which currently has over 1.2 million residents on the waiting list, the Bheka Phambiili development association, which has been waiting for 27 years for their promised houses said they hoped they would be a part of the 10 000 units built for this financial year.
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“We have been waiting for far too long, some have died, some have grown old like myself and we are no way near to owning the houses promised to us by government when they purchased our land,” said Lucas Skhosana.
“It was an exciting time for many of us, post-apartheid, a turning of a new leaf.
“That’s what the project name was Bheka Phambili, loosely translates to look forward, which supposed to mark the beginning of hope for us.”
85 year-old Skhosana is one of the eight appointed committee members who were spearheading the development project for the community back in 1995.
Now, a pensioner, Skhosana who has resided in Diepkloof since 1963 has been waiting for state housing since 1995.
“Every member joined at a fee of R55 and deposited the money over time until we got the land,” he recalled.
He is among the hundred members of the Bheki Phambili who purchased a piece of land at Plot 32 Sweetwaters near Ennerdale in 1995.
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The committee was allegedly approached by government informing them they too had bought the same piece of land and requested to buy them out.
The committee had already erected 74 shacks on the land and their only plea was not to be left behind from RDP houses.
“The government of the time said because there would be many of us, the remaining figure will be placed in other places where we would get our RDP houses or stands to which we agreed, but today that all has not happened,” a distressed Skhosana told Urban News.
According to Skhosana, an estimated 100 members from Diepkloof’s Zone 3,4,5,6 were yet to be relocated.
“The 74 people are still at that property and are living in their RDP houses. What about us who were part of that number, who they promised?
“We want what was promised to us – they have failed us after so many years we are still without houses.
“We are requesting to be given our RDP houses or at least stands,” he said, referring to the members.
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Skhosana said government has failed to keep its promises and further lambasted that senior officials have bluntly ignored his attempts to seek a way forward over the years.
He in recent months has been making follow-ups and said during a visit to the legislature made him hopeful.
“We want people who were part of the association to come forward.
“They must come because many of them have given up. We currently have 54 members whose names we have but more are missing. We want to put the matter to rest and people given what was promised.”
In August, Gauteng MEC for Human Settlements and Cooperative Governance and Traditional affairs (COGTA), Lebogang Maile revealed in a response to the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) written questions which were tabled in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL) that migration, availability of habitable land and budget were among the top reasons there was a slowdown in delivering houses.
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The official opposition has dismissed this to be ‘unnecessary excuses’ and demanded that MEC Maile fast tracks the allocation of houses. According to the DA, of the 53 954 houses completed in 2017, only 10830 were allocated from 2019 to the 2021/22 financial year.
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