Woman waits for RDP house, seven years and counting…
A woman in Concordia has been living in a shack at the back of her incomplete RDP house for nearly three years, as a contractual dispute between Knysna Municipality and the contractor in charge of the project prevents completion of the house.
Brenda Damana (47) has lived in Knysna all her life, and in 2013 was finally given the chance to get an RDP house when she was accepted onto a list for applicants in line for a housing project that was set to start in 2017. Four years later, in March 2017, the concrete slab was laid on property CS235 marking the start of construction on her house.
However, the Knysna fires in
June 2017 temporarily halted further work on the house as well as the rest of the project. Later that year, construction on the project resumed, but not on Damana’s house. To assist with her accommodation needs, her employers rebuilt her shack at the back of the property after it had been broken down to make way for the RDP house, as a temporary measure until Damana’s house was built. “We had to help her out and give her some form of accommodation because the house wasn’t being built,” said her employer, Mike Verrier.
Only two years later, in October 2019, did the builders return to the site and finally erect the walls and the rest of the outer shell of the house. Hopeful, Damana was looking forward to finally having her home completed.
But, it was not to be and nine months later it is still just the shell of the house that stands there as a bleak reminder of her long wait.
“If you look around, it’s the only house that has not been completed. It’s just not fair,” said Damana.
Her employers also stepped in to help in her fight for the completion of her long-awaited home, but after numerous calls, e-mails, and attempts to bring the issue to the forefront of the municipality’s housing department’s attention, no action has yet been taken on construction of the house.
“Brenda hasn’t always been able to take it up with the municipality so we’ve helped where we can to try and push forward the resolution of the contractual dispute. She’s been waiting for seven years now,” Verrier said.
Municipal spokesperson Christopher Bezuidenhoudt confirmed that the situation with the house is due to an ongoing legal process. “Construction of the said house has thus been halted pending the outcome of this legal matter. The municipality is in the process of resolving this matter with the attorney of the litigants.”
The municipality was also asked for a time frame within which they expect the legal dispute to be resolved, and why the process has been taking so long, but no comment was forthcoming by the time of going to print.