Family of four in Kliptown are forced to separate after their house starts sinking in
“My only cry is for my family to have a safe home."
The Williams family from Kliptown have been separated for more than six months as they cannot enter their house due to the infrastructure collapsing.
We first covered the story in March this year and returned on October 7 to find that the house has been in that state since our last visit to the family’s home.
“It’s almost fifty years that we have been living here. The ground is unstable, for years we tried to find out what is happening to the ground. At night we could hear water running underneath our house,” said Andre (Imran) Williams.
The resident recalls that many years ago, there was a well in the community and over the years residents would throw their old furniture down the well in order to close it, he recalls it being very deep and thinks that it is the stream which led to the well that is now causing the issues on their house.
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Six months ago, was the last time that Williams entered his home, since then he and his family had to live in separated places.
“My family is divided. There were times when I had to sleep in the car because I had nowhere to go. I was given notice to move out of the room that I was living in, month end I need to be out. I’m also unemployed, if I had a job, I could have maybe made a plan for us,” added Williams.
The family can no longer go into the house because the floor is sinking and causing the walls to lean. The one wall is leaning on the front door.
According to Williams, Cllr Peter Rafferty visited the home when he was still a DA cllr and the family was disappointed that after the visit nothing was done. Williams explained: “The story just ended there with the visit. At the end, the Cllrs don’t realise that we are the people who vote for them. We put them where they are but they are nowhere to be seen when we need their help. Elections are coming up and again people will come and promise us things. All they do here is change our house numbers.”
The resident also shared that three months ago the housing officials of Region G visited the house and a contractor who was with said that they handed an evacuation letter over to the engineers in order for the family to be evacuated. The engineers will then find the cause of the collapsing house and then possible solutions, whoever since then, the family is still waiting.
“We expect our government to step in and assist us, it’s not only our house that is damaged, there are many of our houses that are damaged and collapsing, it’s just that ours is collapsing faster and that’s why we cannot live there. Even if the government can relocate us, we’ll be happy. My only cry is for my family to have a safe home,” concluded Williams.
Ward Cllr Rafferty commented on the situation: “All those old houses are under the provincial government. The department also communicated with all people from these old houses. The only way is by allocations that was stalled since Covid. Most of those old houses must be demolished. I can follow up again to check the way forward.”
The family is in need of a place to stay, if you are able to assist the family with their living arrangements, you can contact Andre (Imran) Williams on 074 665 9913 or Rashida Williams on 084 771 5871.
