Taking responsibility for her own future, Bukiwe Matakane committed 50 cents a day for two years to finally realise the dream of owning her own home.
For more than a decade the mother of four lived in a shack, but she's now the proud owner of a two-bedroomed brick house in Victoria Mxenge, in Philippi.
It was all thanks to her decision to join the Federation of the Urban and Rural poor, a community organisation working with residents to build their communities, by saving as little as 50c a day. Matakane eventually raised R378,
Nothing got Matakane down in the long, arduous journey to this point, which even included making her own bricks.
"We do things for ourselves," the proud homeowner said, explaining that the concept was centred on daily saving.
"I used the money I had saved to put in sewerage pipes. I put away windows, doors and anything else that I bought along the way that I knew would finally translate into the home I now have."
Other than her savings, and the materials she bought, Matakane's house was finally built using a R17 250 housing subsidy.
"I used to make bricks," she said. "This is what you can achieve when you work together... I helped dig the trenches, put the slabs in, build the walls and put on the roof."
Patrick Magebula, the federation's national president, said the work done by his organisation went way beyond just ensuring people saved money to secure their own futures.
They aimed to also empower residents to make decisions and actively participate in planning their houses, collecting quotes, learning from professionals, and sharing skills.
"In all nine provinces we have working groups who can show local and provincial governments that they can save, manage the design - and - these resources," he said.
But Magebula pointed out that if the government could provide land, it would make the task of building houses much easier.
"If (it) can provide serviced land... communities would build their own houses and government programmes would have to catch up along the way," he said.
The federation has built 15,000 houses. It requires each collective to have three treasurers and a committee that sets criteria and assesses a community's need for development.
On Thursday last week the City of Cape Town's director of development services, Noahman "Bloemie" Hendricks, said informal settlements were "here to stay" unless residents played a role in developing their communities.
He was speaking at an informal settlements dialogue forum in Guguletu.
- Cape Argus
For more than a decade the mother of four lived in a shack, but she's now the proud owner of a two-bedroomed brick house in Victoria Mxenge, in Philippi.
It was all thanks to her decision to join the Federation of the Urban and Rural poor, a community organisation working with residents to build their communities, by saving as little as 50c a day. Matakane eventually raised R378,
Nothing got Matakane down in the long, arduous journey to this point, which even included making her own bricks.
"We do things for ourselves," the proud homeowner said, explaining that the concept was centred on daily saving.
"I used the money I had saved to put in sewerage pipes. I put away windows, doors and anything else that I bought along the way that I knew would finally translate into the home I now have."
Other than her savings, and the materials she bought, Matakane's house was finally built using a R17 250 housing subsidy.
"I used to make bricks," she said. "This is what you can achieve when you work together... I helped dig the trenches, put the slabs in, build the walls and put on the roof."
Patrick Magebula, the federation's national president, said the work done by his organisation went way beyond just ensuring people saved money to secure their own futures.
They aimed to also empower residents to make decisions and actively participate in planning their houses, collecting quotes, learning from professionals, and sharing skills.
"In all nine provinces we have working groups who can show local and provincial governments that they can save, manage the design - and - these resources," he said.
But Magebula pointed out that if the government could provide land, it would make the task of building houses much easier.
"If (it) can provide serviced land... communities would build their own houses and government programmes would have to catch up along the way," he said.
The federation has built 15,000 houses. It requires each collective to have three treasurers and a committee that sets criteria and assesses a community's need for development.
On Thursday last week the City of Cape Town's director of development services, Noahman "Bloemie" Hendricks, said informal settlements were "here to stay" unless residents played a role in developing their communities.
He was speaking at an informal settlements dialogue forum in Guguletu.
- Cape Argus
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