Sad reality of RDP housing

Let us just be honest, the quality of RDP houses is downright appalling. The workmanship leaves very little to be desired. I’d hate to be in that house should a storm arise.

In my own home in heavy rains, I’d probably have my knickers in a knot, worried senseless that I would find the Indian Ocean in my kitchen-cum-lounge.

With building materials from China and tenders handed to pals for the construction, it really is no wonder that these houses are in the condition they are in.

Imagine waiting for years and years to be handed your keys, sometimes protesting, adding your name to list upon list, city council visits and repeatedly voting for a government that keeps promising you a better tomorrow.

Then, after twenty something years, after a few brown envelopes exchanged, you get the keys to the shoddiest of houses, yours to turn into a home.

From what I saw from the RDP house I was in last week, as long as your definition of a home is a wall riddled with cracks, doors that are ill-fitted and darkness as most of these houses lack electricity, then I guess you’re in luck.

I remember when the ANC went after the DA for the toilet saga in the Western Cape, forgetting to look in the mirror.

The ANC can accuse the DA of racism, selective service delivery and meeting only the needs of the elite, but they forget they are delivering on houses at a very slow pace and they are delivering houses of questionable standards in townships with no infrastructure.

Tshepisong is an RDP settlement that, even after 10 years, still has no proper roads and endless electricity supply issues.

But when officials converse in the corridors of power, they probably reason “they wanted houses, we gave them houses. Now they want roads. They are so ungrateful”. These public servants then get into their German cars and are escorted by blue lights to their plush estate homes.

The truth is, this is an ANC problem. It is the ANC-led government that gave out these tenders, the same government that accepted this poor workmanship and the same government that promised people quality housing.

They failed on all accounts.