Broken Homes

“Emerging contractors to blame”: MEC

tegan — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 07:58:59 +0000

Eastern Cape Department of Housing MEC, Nombulelo Mabandla, speaks to Daily Dispatch reporter, Gcina Ntsaluba, on the poor workmanship of the RDP houses in the Eastern Cape.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bKhj9WUUMQ

What you’ve had to say…

admin — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 11:46:22 +0000

Ugie – Interactive map

admin — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:28:13 +0000

Herewith an interactive map of the RDP housing projects in Ugie, one of the few places in the Eastern Cape where the project has been a success: Click on the highlighted areas for a quick overview. Left-click your mouse to move around the map and click on + and – to zoom in and out of the area.

Ugie in a larger map

Downloads

admin — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 09:48:24 +0000

	New Housing Policy and Strategy for South Africa – 1994
	PDF Document: NHBRC Forensic Audit
	Rectification AND ENROLMENT progress reportas at end JUNE 2009

Sweetwaters – Interactive map

admin — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:48:05 +0000

Herewith a map with the location of Sweetwaters outside King William’s Town where yet another housing project has failed. Click on the highlighted area or the yellow movie icon to activate the interactive map. Click on + or – to scroll in and out and click and hold the left mouse button to use the “grabber” to move around the map.

Sweetwaters in a larger map

Sweetwaters – the video

admin — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:35:34 +0000

Daily Dispatch reporter Gcina Ntsaluba explains the housing situation in Sweetwaters near King William’s Town -- yet another failed housing project.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3pytALDDQk

The bitter story of Sweetwaters: gallery

admin — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 08:34:53 +0000

Broken homes – and more broken homes in Sweetwaters near King William’s Town. Dispatch reporter Gcina Ntsaluba took the pictures:

Maclear: Interactive map

admin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:29:25 +0000

Herewith an interactive map of the housing situation in Maclear. Click on the highlighted area and the video icon for multimedia aspects. Click on the + and – icons to scroll in and out on the map.

Maclear in a larger map

Sweetwaters: Bitter housing story

admin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:21:22 +0000

Bitter: Unfinished homes in Sweetwaters Pic: GCINA NTSALUBA

The first thing you see when you drive into Sweetwaters near King William’s Town is a large block of roofless houses standing in rows, one behind the other. Here, out of a total of 620 homes, only 49 had been completed.

The sight is quite phenomenal because they are located near the main road which leads into the township. They are so close that you are literally greeted by these homes upon arrival.

The spread out over an area the size of a rugby field.

I spoke to one of the local residents, a disabled man named Vukile Gwaruba who was sitting outside his house doing his washing.

I approached to ask about the state of these houses and he was more than willing to talk to me and show me around.

He said these houses were never completed by the contractor that was building them and as a result they have been vandalized by people and used as hideouts by criminals.

“We don’t even have water, electricity, and proper toilets here we have to go to the bush.”

“Our councilor told us that electricity is too expensive to put in our houses, it would be a

Homes were never completed. Pic: GCINA NTSALUBA

waste of money,” said Gwaruba, whose leg had to be amputated after he had an accident at work at a Group Five Steel plant in Saldanha Bay.

He was forced to stay home after the accident and now lives on a disability grant. His wife is unemployed and they live together.

The area has a total of 620 houses that were built in 2006 but only 49 have been completed so far.

The vast majority of houses of the R10 million project at the time were left unfinished and are still standing empty.

Tarkastad: Interactive map

admin — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 13:18:46 +0000

Click on this interactive map to see some facts about Tarkastad, or click on the yellow camera to take a drive through Tarkstad’s ghost town with Dispatch reporter Gcina Ntsaluba and photographer Theo Jeptha:

Tarkastad in a larger map