Crumbling RDP houses in Braamfischerville: Minister Sexwale is preoccupied with quantity
This morning, a Democratic Alliance (DA) delegation to Braamfischerville saw evidence of the detrimental effects of Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale's apparent focus on the quantity, rather than the quality of RDP housing.
I visited Ward 44 and 49 in Braamfischerville in Johannesburg with a group of Democratic Alliance (DA) public representatives as part of a range of site visits that I am conducting across the country to assess the quality of government housing.
In the housing development we visited today, residents showed us how crumbling and dilapidated houses are creating health hazards that have made their lives unbearable.
We saw examples of houses that are built in areas where spring water constantly oozes from the ground. This results in the growth of algae on interior walls, which poses significant health risks to both adults and children.
People are unable to clean their yards, because of flowing water and sewage, and their children are kept from playing outside.
Last year, approximately 40 families in this area had to be relocated to Lehae and Lufhereng as a result of uninhabitable homes.
In February 2011, Minister Sexwale promised that R1.3 billion will be committed to a rectification programme to address substandard RDP houses. Evidence from my housing visits suggests that significant problems remain.
I have already written to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee for Human Settlements to request that Minister Sexwale be called before the committee to account for inferior workmanship in the Umlazi B10 Housing Project in eThekwini. We will follow up on whether such a request has been made. We will also ask for the briefing to include a report on steps planned by the Human Settlements Department to ensure that problems with the homes of people in Braamfischerville are rectified.
The residents of Braamfischerville are fed up, and rightfully so.
The DA will continue to call for the delivery of quality houses for all people in South Africa. It is unacceptable that poor South Africans are paying the price for inferior work. We have to respect people's dignity by ensuring that the houses delivered by the state are of an acceptable quality.
Statement issued by Stevens Mokgalapa MP, DA Shadow Minister of Human Settlements, April 13 2012
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