Deepening crisis of shared houses
Blame game continues as tribunal hears 300 cases
THE blame game continues while more than 300 families are still living in misery in at least 150 so-called “sharing houses” designed by apartheid town planners to accommodate two families per structure.
The houses are mainly in Mdantsane, but there are others in areas like Dimbaza.
The issues have been heard by a housing tribunal which has been sitting for more than a year.
Buffalo City Metro spokesman Sibusiso Cindi told the Saturday Dispatch this week, the metro’s hands were tied as they had to wait for resolutions from national departments and courts before dealing with the matter further.
“Hearings will be concluded once the MEC of human settlements, the national Minister of Human Settlements and the courts have responded to communication from BCM and the appointed attorneys [Wesley, Pretorius and Associates], and a verdict will be implemented once all the affected parties are happy with the decisions,” Cindi said.
The Dispatch has highlighted the plight of people living in shared houses, citing the families’ unhappiness with the slow process and delays in trying to have only one family per house.
Cindi said the metro considered a number of factors in deciding who remained or who would leave the subdivided four-roomed houses.
“We consider those who first occupied the sharing house or side, the age of the people in the house, their health conditions and situations, how many children from each sharing side etc.,” he said. However, a few families said there was no justice in the process although nothing had been finalised.
Bukelwa Dingiswane lost her mother, aged 87, a week after the hearing last year, to stress and trauma.
“My mother was the eldest and invested so much in the house, by tubing the place, electrifying it, and placing a built-in kitchen.
“She was disabled, but Pretorius, the attorney who is handling the hearings, showed no sympathy. The other family is now convinced the house is theirs because their mother, is the eldest among us now.”
In Dimbaza, Lulama Mnqeneshe said the lawyers did not allow the family to intervene in discussions, but left her 85-year-old dad to deal with them alone.
“They somehow convinced Tata to hand over the title deed which had always been in our possession. They asked him if he wants a brand new house and obviously he was taken up by that.
“At his age, he is a bit disorientated and can’t make drastic decisions on his own. Now our housemates have deprived us of water and the toilet, which is on their side of the house.”
Cindi said BCM was still busy consulting all parties affected by the process and sharing house disputes cases were very sensitive matters, which needed all legal routes to be exhausted before they could take any decisions going forward.
Commission for Gender Equality legal adviser, Kerry Oosthuysen, said they had yet to receive a response from the metro to questions submitted as a matter of urgency to BCM executive mayor Xola Pakati asking for his urgent intervention.
“To date we have yet to receive a substantial response,” he added. — mbalit@dispatch.co.za