Members of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) were taken aback to learn that 145 RDP homes in the North West had been left incomplete for 13 years.
During their oversight visit in the province, the NCOP members came upon this discovery.
On Wednesday, they went to see a mother of seven who lives in Tshunyane village, North West, and whose RDP house is among those that are still unfinished.
The North West department of human settlements had given Glowing Sunset, a housing contractor, permission to build 145 unfinished homes in 13 villages, which horrified members of NCOP.
In Tshunyane alone, the contractor built 34 incomplete houses. One of the beneficiaries is 64-year-old Reginah Mogwase.
Following a severe storm in 2012 that destroyed her house, she decided to put up a roof and cover the windows with corrugated iron sheets.
“I was staying in a mud house, so I was left with no option but to use this incomplete house because my children needed shelter at that time,” she said.
Her four-room RDP home is still unfinished.
“It has been long; I don’t think the contractor will ever come to complete it; I am left helpless,” she remarked.
Members of the NCOP stated that people working on the project needed to be held responsible.
NCOP member Tidimalo Legwase expressed her dissatisfaction.
People want houses
“We know that there was a budget for people to get houses. We get here; there are no houses,” said Legwase.
“The department comes back and wants to explain to us. We don’t want an explanation; we want people to have houses.
“For you to build a house, there was a need identified. People needed a house and shelter, and honestly, you have failed.”
Papiki Babuile, the provincial secretary of the EFF, was equally shocked.
“The houses have been here for a longer period, and I am scared that they might have structural defects,” said Babuile.
“Will the NHBRC [National Home Builders Registration Council] be involved again to check the state of these houses now because bringing a new person [contractor] might be a malicious compliance process because the report he or she might get might be that these houses have other damages?” he asked.
According to Kealeboga Sega, a councillor for Ward 26, government representatives visited the abandoned project in 2021.
“They [government officials] then promised us that the houses that are not in good condition were going to be demolished and rebuilt afresh,” he told members of the NCOP.
Structural integrity
The provincial department of human settlement’s HOD, Kgomotso Mahlobo, said the department had already spent money on Mogwase’s house.
“The expenditure on this particular house was R35 000 out of what was meant to complete the whole house, and the contractor hasn’t been appointed by the department ever since,” said Mahlobo.
She said the department will examine the structural integrity of the house.
“The house is exposed to weather conditions; the structural integrity has to be checked. We will remedy the situation.”
Sylvia Sithole, the NCOP’s provincial whip, was in charge of the team.
“You can’t have a situation where you stayed for 13 years with an incomplete house while nothing is happening,” she said.
“We cannot take that the situation is normal. If there was money spent here, the one who paid the contractor and the one who received the tender must give us the explanation or get arrested.”
The department has been instructed to give the NCOP a proper plan by Thursday.
