In a previous story on the Strengthening Action Against Corruption programme, also known as SAAC, we mentioned the dearth of unfinished public development projects in the Eastern Cape. In this one, we delve a little deeper into three such projects affecting three different communities.
A Decade Long Wait
In Libode, which falls under the Nyandeni Local Municipality, the Sikhuza family has endured more than a decade-long wait for the house they were promised. This house was supposed to be delivered as part of an RDP housing project initiated in 2014. Unfortunately, the contractor responsible for the project failed to complete the construction of the house. When the contractor first left the site, the house was in a severely unfinished state: there was no plastering on the walls, no glass installed in the window frames, no ceiling, and no doors fitted.
The contractor eventually returned to carry out the plastering, but the quality of this work was substandard, as is evident from photographs taken of the house. After this attempt, the contractor did not return to address the remaining construction work. As a result, the house has been left incomplete and uninhabited. Over the years, it has continued to deteriorate, exposed to harsh weather conditions and further neglect, its condition worsening with each passing year.
A family of nine cannot live in the house they were promised. The problem is that their story is not unique. It reflects the broader pattern in local municipalities across the Eastern Cape where contractors abandon projects or deliver poor work without being held accountable.
Unanswered Questions
Seven hours to the south in Kariega, one housing rectification project in Greenfields, Ward 50, got stalled. Homes that were unsound and unsafe were demolished at the start of the project, but work stopped without any official explanation provided to the affected parties. Repeated attempts to get answers only yielded frustration.
Across the way in Kariega Ward 48, a 2015/2016 housing project that was supposed to build 614 houses managed to construct only 398, many of which have structural faults due to being built on a wetland. The houses deemed unfit for occupation were vandalised and have remained empty. The families who were meant to live in them are now enduring desperate conditions in shacks.
Collective Action
SAAC rural partners operating in these municipalities, Development Education and Leadership Teams in Action (DELTA) and the Interchurch Local Development Agency (ILDA), are monitoring the responses of the authorities after conducting a social audit to understand what happened. The communities and families affected by this complete failure to deliver housing that was budgeted for but never materialised want answers. DELTA and ILDA are harnessing collective power by educating communities about their rights and hope that, together, they will hold these municipalities to account.
