Elderly women, Notshu Ntonga and Noncedile Velaphi, both 89-years-old, had their dignity restored after Eastern Cape Human Settlements MEC, Siphokazi Mani-Lusithi, handed over keys to their new houses recently.
Both women, from Mqanduli under King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality, had their houses destroyed during recent natural disasters in the area.
The houses form part of an ongoing housing project, a disaster intervention that will benefit 362 families in the King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality upon completion.
According to the Provincial Department of Human Settlements, the KSD 362 Destitute Project currently has 299 completed houses helping many families rebuild their lives.
Eastern Cape Human Settlements MEC, Siphokazi-Mani Lusithi, said that her department was working on reviving other housing projects that had stalled for years, as part of addressing the housing backlog in the province.
“In the last financial year we had 87 blocked housing projects, and we have since managed to unblock 34 of those projects, and the target is to complete the unblocking of the remaining 53 during the current financial year,” said Mani-Lusithi.
She further said that the department was reaping the fruits of its partnership with the National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC), which ensured that the houses were of good quality and lessened the need for the housing units to be rectified after handing over.
“I am very happy to finally receive a house from government. I previously lived in a rondavel which was destroyed by heavy rains, and had to seek shelter from neighbours. I then approached government officials pleading for a house and it is a joyful day to me to receive the new house,” said Ntonga of Gengqe Village in Mqanduli.
In Mhlontlo Local Municipality, 322 families have already received their houses from a similar project for disaster-hit communities.
A contractor appointed by the Eastern Cape Department of Human Settlements for the housing project also donated furniture to both Ntonga and Velaphi houses.
Mani-Lusithi was accompanied by KSD Local Municipality executive mayor, Nyaniso Nelani, during the handing over of the houses.
