Josephine Dlomo, 79, lives in a wood and iron shack covered with plastic sheeting that is so full of holes that the icy winter cold seeps in.
The floor is bare red sand and the shack is filled with smoke from the fire that she burns constantly in order to cook and to keep warm.
The mother of five is a resident in Inanda, one of four squatter settlements situated between the beautiful homes of the upper middle class areas of Northriding and Bridgeview, north of Johannesburg. Her children also live in shacks in the area.
But Dlomo has never given up hope that she will get a home of her own. It is a dream she shares with millions of other poor South Africans who - 13 years into the new democracy - still live in appalling conditions in informal settlements all over the country.
‘The mother of five is a resident in Inanda’
Dlomo has been on the housing waiting list for years, but in 2003 she thought that her dream was finally going to come true after housing officials arrived at her home, took down her personal details and wrote a number on the door of her shack.
They did the same with her neighbours, who also expected to be moved into proper homes.
But four years later Dlomo is still living in a shack, even though some of her neighbours have moved into new homes in the nearby Cosmo City development, amid allegations that they had paid bribes.
Yet, while people like Dlomo wait for homes, unscrupulous developers have taken advantage of the government’s push to house South Africans, with allegations of widespread fraud involving developers claiming payment for houses never built, or cutting corners and costs and building houses of such poor quality that they fall apart within months of the new owners moving in.
Now the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has received R10-million from the Treasury to fund an investigation into housing fraud that is said to amount to at least R3-billion, perpetrated by unscrupulous housing developers and contractors since 1994.
‘In Cape Town, the N2 Gateway project is mired in controversy’
The investigation follows a proclamation by President Thabo Mbeki instructing the SIU to investigate this massive fraud, and is aimed at rooting out corruption in the national housing department.
The corruption includes government employees obtaining housing subsidies to which they weren’t entitled; houses paid for but never built; and housing officials offering houses to people willing to pay bribes, while people with a legitimate right to a house remain homeless.
One example is in Polokwane, Limpopo, where the department of housing forked out R15-million for RDP houses that were never built. And, while the people who were promised houses are still living in shacks, the developer has disappeared and no trace can be found of the missing millions.
In Cape Town, the N2 Gateway project is mired in controversy as many of the houses in the first phase of the multimillion-rand development alongside the airport freeway are cracking and subcontractors who haven’t been paid have downed tools.
Costs have escalated dramatically, and the project’s completion date has been shifted from 2005 to 2009.
Speaking in parliament last week, Democratic Alliance MP Greg Krumbock said the housing budget this year was close to the more than R9-billion the minister of housing expected would be spent in 2008 and 2009.
“So the problem is not lack of finance. The problem rather is a series of inefficient, ineffective and uneconomical practices which bedevil those good intentions,” he said.
But while the SIU probes the alleged fraud and the politicians squabble, ordinary people like Dlomo continue to live the way they do.
However, Gauteng housing MEC Nomvula Mokonyane said yesterday that the province is to get about 10 new mixed housing developments in the current financial year. They would come into being in Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, Mogale City and Johannesburg.
The developments would be similar to Cosmo City. In particular, a major mixed housing development was planned at Doornkop.
Mokonyane said her department would speed up plans to acquire prime land closer to urban centres for housing developments.
“We will explore various options, including expropriation,” she said. A drive to have no informal settlements in the province by 2014, would see 10 such settlements eradicated in this financial year.
Additional reporting by Sapa
The floor is bare red sand and the shack is filled with smoke from the fire that she burns constantly in order to cook and to keep warm.
The mother of five is a resident in Inanda, one of four squatter settlements situated between the beautiful homes of the upper middle class areas of Northriding and Bridgeview, north of Johannesburg. Her children also live in shacks in the area.
But Dlomo has never given up hope that she will get a home of her own. It is a dream she shares with millions of other poor South Africans who - 13 years into the new democracy - still live in appalling conditions in informal settlements all over the country.
‘The mother of five is a resident in Inanda’
Dlomo has been on the housing waiting list for years, but in 2003 she thought that her dream was finally going to come true after housing officials arrived at her home, took down her personal details and wrote a number on the door of her shack.
They did the same with her neighbours, who also expected to be moved into proper homes.
But four years later Dlomo is still living in a shack, even though some of her neighbours have moved into new homes in the nearby Cosmo City development, amid allegations that they had paid bribes.
Yet, while people like Dlomo wait for homes, unscrupulous developers have taken advantage of the government’s push to house South Africans, with allegations of widespread fraud involving developers claiming payment for houses never built, or cutting corners and costs and building houses of such poor quality that they fall apart within months of the new owners moving in.
Now the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has received R10-million from the Treasury to fund an investigation into housing fraud that is said to amount to at least R3-billion, perpetrated by unscrupulous housing developers and contractors since 1994.
‘In Cape Town, the N2 Gateway project is mired in controversy’
The investigation follows a proclamation by President Thabo Mbeki instructing the SIU to investigate this massive fraud, and is aimed at rooting out corruption in the national housing department.
The corruption includes government employees obtaining housing subsidies to which they weren’t entitled; houses paid for but never built; and housing officials offering houses to people willing to pay bribes, while people with a legitimate right to a house remain homeless.
One example is in Polokwane, Limpopo, where the department of housing forked out R15-million for RDP houses that were never built. And, while the people who were promised houses are still living in shacks, the developer has disappeared and no trace can be found of the missing millions.
In Cape Town, the N2 Gateway project is mired in controversy as many of the houses in the first phase of the multimillion-rand development alongside the airport freeway are cracking and subcontractors who haven’t been paid have downed tools.
Costs have escalated dramatically, and the project’s completion date has been shifted from 2005 to 2009.
Speaking in parliament last week, Democratic Alliance MP Greg Krumbock said the housing budget this year was close to the more than R9-billion the minister of housing expected would be spent in 2008 and 2009.
“So the problem is not lack of finance. The problem rather is a series of inefficient, ineffective and uneconomical practices which bedevil those good intentions,” he said.
But while the SIU probes the alleged fraud and the politicians squabble, ordinary people like Dlomo continue to live the way they do.
However, Gauteng housing MEC Nomvula Mokonyane said yesterday that the province is to get about 10 new mixed housing developments in the current financial year. They would come into being in Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, Mogale City and Johannesburg.
The developments would be similar to Cosmo City. In particular, a major mixed housing development was planned at Doornkop.
Mokonyane said her department would speed up plans to acquire prime land closer to urban centres for housing developments.
“We will explore various options, including expropriation,” she said. A drive to have no informal settlements in the province by 2014, would see 10 such settlements eradicated in this financial year.
Additional reporting by Sapa
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