Homes top list of voter priorities
AS VOTERS head to the polls next month, housing, particularly the lack of proper and affordable accommodation, has started hitting home for many voters who cannot even find jobs.
With almost 60 million waiting in anticipation of the 2024 national and provincial elections, the housing backlog has risen to a staggering level.
The backyard of a small house in Joburg’s Alexandra township is occupied by families struggling to make ends meet.
This is where you find about 15 people living in one yard, adults and minors included. It is one of the overpopulated areas in Gauteng.
Here, most of the residents are unemployed and poverty, crime and pregnancy are rampant.
Basic service delivery, such as water and sanitation, electricity and proper roads are not prioritised.
However, this problem is also seen across the country, particularly in areas surrounding big cities such as Durban and Cape Town, where many people live in poverty and unemployment.
The governing party, the ANC, has built houses in its 30 years of rule but promised to build more.
This includes promising the people of Alexandra about 1 million houses as part of the renewal plan of their government.
However, since the project, zero houses have been built in Alex and people are still living in shacks and dire conditions.
Residents said that the ongoing housing crisis tops the list of key priorities that need to be addressed by the current and incoming government.
A 52-year-old Elsie Makhubela, who has been a resident of Diepsloot for more than 15 years, also said that they were tired of complaining to the government about their environment because nothing had changed or made any difference.
“I am living in a shack with my children and grandchildren and I am unemployed, but what hurts more is that we continue to vote and nothing is happening.
“I am even renting this shack, it’s not mine, so I have to make ends meet to ensure that my family has a shelter,” she said.
According to Makhubela, this was caused by the rural-to-urban migration leading to the increase of population and urban squatter camps.
Diepsloot was established in 1995 as an informal settlement for people who had initially been removed from informal settlements in Honeydew, Zevenfontein and Alexandra.
The area is now known for being one of the most notorious and dangerous places in Joburg.
In the line of building and ensuring that people have shelters, the government is plunged into a crisis of illegal RDPs and subsidised houses.
There have been complaints of RDP houses being on sale, whereas they are meant for underprivileged people who are not in a position to buy or build houses.
On Thursday, Minister of Human Settlements Mmamoloko Kubayi sent a stern warning to people illegally occupying subsidised houses.
“The days of contractors abandoning government housing projects are over, and people invading private properties must come to an end,” she said, during an engagement with the Dan Tloome community in Rand West Local Municipality.
This comes after qualifying beneficiaries complained about not being allocated houses, while their houses were being invaded.
According to the Human Settlements Department, between 2019 and 2024, through its agency, the Social Housing Regulatory Authority (SHRA), managed to deliver more than 13 000 units, resulting in close to 50 000 rental and affordable units delivered over the years.
The government has promised to address the matter of housing across the country.