Africa-Press – South-Africa. The Namibia Stop 8 Housing Project in Inanda, eThekwini, started in 2019 – but, to date, only one RDP house has been completed.
Residents said the construction company was on site from 2019 to 2020, but stopped because of the Covid pandemic.
According to the eThekwini municipality’s spokesperson, Lindiwe Khuzwayo, the development – located about 30km from Durban centre – comprises 500 serviced sites and 343 new housing units. She said R83 million had been spent so far.
The money was spent on roadworks, stormwater sewers, platforms and foundations, water reticulation and some top structures.
At the council meeting on 31 May, it was revealed that R43 million was needed to complete the project, according to the DA’s Marlaine Nair.
She said no more money should be allocated without “a comprehensive report that addresses the project’s progress, challenges and any potential irregularities”.
When we visited the area last week, we found one road tarred for less than 500 metres, the rest just gravel.
The stormwater system was incomplete. Some sewer trenches had been dug.
A total of 13 houses were at foundation level. One house was complete.
The eThekwini councillor, Zamani Khuzwayo (DA), said the project was 51% complete and the new finishing deadline was December 2024.
Khuzwayo blamed delays on bureaucracy and obtaining the necessary approvals, the relocation of families to temporary housing units, Covid, the 2021 July unrest, and the KZN floods.
Families who were relocated in November 2019 said they were told the project would take 18 months. Three-and-a-half years later, they are still sitting in transit camps.
A community leader, Thami Ngidi, said residents had been sceptical from the outset. He said, of the 500 families, only 311 agreed to be moved.
“Unfortunately, the officials managed to convince some of us. We ended up agreeing to be moved,” said Ngidi.
The informal settlement of Namibia Stop 8 was established in 1960.
Residents live in homes made of reused bricks and corrugated iron. Some residents built pit toilets for themselves.
Several hundred families who refused to move will have to be relocated to finish the project.
A resident, Buzani Mkhize, said: “I told them that I want to be closer when they build my house, so that immediately when they finish I move in. We know houses are being [illegally] sold in other areas.”
Tsepo Magubane said when his parents were relocated, his backyard room was demolished.
“I refused to go live in a one-room house with my parents and siblings. Our house is in the first row. We were told it will be done within six months, but that never happened.”
Conditions at the transit camp are poor.
Each family has to share a single room and there is a lack of toilets.
People have to carry five and 10-litre buckets to flush the toilets. Water is currently being delivered by truck.
Residents we spoke to said the water truck could be absent for weeks.
The mayor, Mxolisi Kaunda, said the municipality was busy with the repairs to vandalised pumps, and apologised for the water situation.
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