Problems ranging from asthma-causing black mould to faeces floating up toilets plague houses recently built for military veterans in
Scarred by years of fighting the apartheid army, former Azanian National Liberation Army (Azanla) fighter Louisa Sijaji now has to live in a mouldy house which, though relatively new, has a dysfunctional toilet too.
She said though her toilet sometimes works normally, there are times where it just fills to the brim with faeces when she flushes it. This specific problem affects many of her fellow residents in a new military-veterans housing estate in Belhar,
"I'm a veteran for God's sake! I fought. I have scars because I have been beaten by
In 2018, Sijaji was allocated a home in a new military veterans' housing estate of 102 houses built for the government by
Sijaji has since been elected secretary of the military veterans' village committee, and they aim to have the houses rebuilt.
'Developer of choice'
Long vertical and horizontal cracks showed up in the walls of their new homes shortly after the veterans moved in. Today, the houses still have cracks and are damp in parts. Black mould, which can cause asthma, has collected on the walls.
He adds that the poorly constructed homes are yet another glaring example of the failure of the privatised-housing model used by both the ANC and DA, where contracts are dished out to private companies who allegedly skimp on building materials and quality.
To illustrate his point, he points to some large buildings that are being constructed mere metres away from the military veterans' village - a 2 720-bedroom student residence being built for the
"
A fungi invasion
One bedroom wall in Ntanyana's house is covered in black mould. Rainwater routinely seeps into the houses through door frames. Ntanyana and other veterans say
Sijaji said her house is so damp that her feet feel wet whenever she puts them down without shoes.
It does not end there.
"When you open your wardrobe, your suit is covered in fungus. We must live with our heaters on 24 hours per day in winter, which is expensive and also does not solve the mould problem," said Jacobs.
In summer, residents say the mould continues even when windows are kept open all day and night. Water that collects on the damp walls is seen streaming down into plug points.
"I am so very disappointed in our houses. Look at how my bathroom is leaking," he said, pointing to the floor where water seeps in through the wall.
Small and faulty
The veterans say they were told that their houses would be 50m2, which is 10m2 larger than a new RDP house. However, they say the houses they ended up occupying are 37m2.
"We are really disrespected by the government. My bedroom is like a toy cupboard for
Sijaji complained about the size of the houses too and wondered how the money was spent. "When the government started this project, the cost of an RDP house was R103 000 and then the department of military veterans topped up that amount to R188 000 to build these two-bedroom houses. But we don't see where the money has been spent," she said.
Former Umkhonto weSizwe fighter Basil Mtungane, the chairperson of the committee, said: "The first time that we entered these houses we discovered they were small. The houses have no foundations, and were built on concrete slabs, which is why they aren't waterproof.
"When there is a power failure, the sewage system stops working and shit comes up into the toilet. It stays like that until the municipality sends someone to turn it back on. We fought for the freedom of this land but we are being treated like pigs."
The veterans were members of Azanian People's
"We are all together. We are brothers and sisters here. We don't want anyone to come and divide us," said Jacobs, adding that they have finally secured places in local schools for their children. The village is also next to the Unibell railway station, which is a convenience they would not want to do without.
Denial of responsibility
According to
"We differ with the opinion that the houses in question were very poorly built. There are settlement cracks in the houses which occur once the foundations of a house have settled. This is normal and is 'slight' in nature - a term used for non-structural cracks in houses," said Williams, adding that this has been confirmed by the
However, the
While many cracks were "very slight and related to lack of maintenance", the cracks "manifest at high-stress concentrations. These defects require structural repair", said the report.
The damp walls are a result of builders failing to install "block-ventilation bricks and, more likely, [from] the lack of proper sealant around the window frames, or even the poor installation of the windows...
"The findings of the forensic engineering have to be addressed without further delay or the defects will lead to major structural defects... The competent person, if not complying, will be escalated to the
When asked what
Sijaji said the government has accepted that the houses are of poor quality. On 10 November, the village committee met with officials from the human settlements department and the Western Cape department of military veterans, who said workers would arrive on 1 December to fix the first batch of 15 houses. She said the officials conceded that many cracks were a result of poor workmanship.
"The government officials told us that
More problems
The veterans also said that
Ntanyana volunteers at Lapsley's
"Father Michael himself gave us manure and fruit trees to plant a communal garden outside because we have been squeezed into a small space inside. But
Williams said that it is untrue that
He said the company planned to build free-standing houses to sell for R1 295 000 and upwards where the vegetable garden was.
"No Calgro member has ever threatened a resident of the area or threatened to bulldoze their agricultural patches. We even went as far as taking the status of their crops at that stage into account when planning the notice period, and planned it so that they could harvest the crop before they had to relocate their activities. Calgro even went as far as levelling a piece of land close to the railway line adjacent to the military veterans' houses for the owners of the patches to gradually move their agricultural activities to," said Williams.
The department of military veterans had not responded to questions by the time of publication.
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