DV fire victims impatient for new homes
Happy with quality of shelters but critical of pace of the project
Seven months after a fire destroyed more than 100 shacks in Duncan Village, construction of 165 temporary shelters is under way at a cost R54,000 each.
The project, which started last month, has seen four shelters built so far in the same place where nearly 300 residents lost their homes when a stove was left unattended by a resident.
BCM city manager Andile Sihlahla, at a council meeting last week, announced that a little over R9m would be used for the project after an application was sent to the national department of human settlements to declare the site a disaster area.
Sihlahla said this allowed them to secure an “emergency procurement” of the 165 shelters through a deviation from the normal supply chain processes.
This, said Sihlahla, was because of the “current dire living conditions faced by the fire victims of ward 2”.
An amount of R9m was injected by the national department as part of the municipal emergency housing grant.
The Dispatch visited the area on Monday and saw some workers assembling the shelters as others painted those already constructed. Beneficiaries said they were happy with the quality of the shelters but criticised the “slow” pace of the project.
“We love our shelters, they are beautiful and seem strong. We are happy with the quality, it is nothing like the shelters we have seen before in our metro. They do seem to be smaller than some of the shacks that were here though.
“Our shacks sizes were not the same; some were bigger,” said resident Lindeka Rolinyati while another resident, Nomathemba Mtyi, complained about the “slow pace” of the project.
“My son’s shack was the first to be demolished. We were told that this would take three days and thereafter he would be inside his shelter but now weeks have gone by and he is forced to ask for a place to sleep from friends and relatives because my shack is full with other children and grandchildren. I am not happy at all, they are very slow,” said Mtyi.
While residents were happy with aluminium windows and doors, they said they still hoped to get the RDP houses they have been promised for decades by the government.
They would still get them, said ANC ward 2 councillor Ntombizandile Mhlola, who is also the metro’s portfolio head for human settlements.
“Once that happens we will use the structures to house other beneficiaries in line to be moved to their RDP houses.
“The construction of the shelters is a bit slow because of space issues but we have found alternative space to accommodate some in Mekeni and Braelyn,” Mhlola said.
Residents would also get electricity in their new shelters.