Daily Dispatch Online 2009/10/06
PARLIAMENTARIANS got a first-hand account of life in East London’s low-cost housing projects yesterday at the start of a week-long trip around the province.
Chairperson of the portfolio committee on Human Settlements Nomhle Dambuza said she was pleased with the progress in delivering RDP houses, but unhappy with the living conditions in places like Ducats and Duncan Village.
Dambuza said the provincial Department of Housing needed to unblock all projects that were halted because of poor workmanship and shift towards building sustainable human settlements where people had jobs and proper sanitation facilities.
“They are still using the old method of building houses, and the issue of sanitation is a mess. Something has to be done by the end of the week because it is a health hazard, ” she said.
Dambuza was speaking at a community meeting in Ducats outside East London, where emotional residents expressed frustration.
Resident Zukiswa Siwendu said she had lost two children in consecutive years because they had no clinics or ambulances to take them to hospital.
“We do not have clinics or mobile clinics here, the closest one is in Nompumelelo in Beacon Bay,” she said.
Siwendu said the scarcity of water and proper toilets were also a problem, because everybody shared the same tap and used long drops for ablution facilities.
“When the toilet gets full, we have to scoop everything out with a bucket and dump it in the bush, which causes an unbearable smell,” she said.
Another resident, Bonisile Ngqoyiya , said government should first finish all houses that were badly built before attempting to build more.
“The first RDP house that was built here has big cracks in the walls, even though there is an old woman living in it,” he said.
Ngqoyiya said local RDP houses were built in 2002, but were still unfinished seven years later.
He said the area did not have a proper dumpsite or refuse collectors, so people threw garbage onto the pavement where children played.
“We have been asking the municipality to collect the rubbish for years, but no one seems to care,” he said.
The committee will visit projects in Port Elizabeth, Cala, Queenstown, Whittlesea and Ugie during the week, and present a detailed report to Parliament. -
PARLIAMENTARIANS got a first-hand account of life in East London’s low-cost housing projects yesterday at the start of a week-long trip around the province.Chairperson of the portfolio committee on Human Settlements Nomhle Dambuza said she was pleased with the progress in delivering RDP houses, but unhappy with the living conditions in places like Ducats and Duncan Village.
Dambuza said the provincial Department of Housing needed to unblock all projects that were halted because of poor workmanship and shift towards building sustainable human settlements where people had jobs and proper sanitation facilities.
“They are still using the old method of building houses, and the issue of sanitation is a mess. Something has to be done by the end of the week because it is a health hazard, ” she said.
Dambuza was speaking at a community meeting in Ducats outside East London, where emotional residents expressed frustration.
Resident Zukiswa Siwendu said she had lost two children in consecutive years because they had no clinics or ambulances to take them to hospital.
“We do not have clinics or mobile clinics here, the closest one is in Nompumelelo in Beacon Bay,” she said.
Siwendu said the scarcity of water and proper toilets were also a problem, because everybody shared the same tap and used long drops for ablution facilities.
“When the toilet gets full, we have to scoop everything out with a bucket and dump it in the bush, which causes an unbearable smell,” she said.
Another resident, Bonisile Ngqoyiya , said government should first finish all houses that were badly built before attempting to build more.
“The first RDP house that was built here has big cracks in the walls, even though there is an old woman living in it,” he said.
Ngqoyiya said local RDP houses were built in 2002, but were still unfinished seven years later.
He said the area did not have a proper dumpsite or refuse collectors, so people threw garbage onto the pavement where children played.
“We have been asking the municipality to collect the rubbish for years, but no one seems to care,” he said.
The committee will visit projects in Port Elizabeth, Cala, Queenstown, Whittlesea and Ugie during the week, and present a detailed report to Parliament. -
By GCINA NTSALUBA — gcinan@dispatch.co.za
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