Sowetan: ‘My shack was better than this house’

http://www.sowetan.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=1018802

‘My shack was better than this house’
17 June 2009
Canaan Mdletshe

WHEN homeless people were moved from shacks and tin houses in Lamontville to newly built double-storey structures in the township, they thought their housing problems were finally over.

But it was not to be. The joy of the 65 families who were moved to the new homes between Friday and Sunday last week was short-lived. They discovered that the houses they were moved to were incomplete and too small even to accommodate a double bed.

The houses had also not been plastered, had no ceilings, no electricity or running water.

When Sowetan visited the area yesterday, the new occupants were battling to fit in their belongings such as beds and wardrobes into the houses.

“I wish I had stayed in my tin house. We had no electricity or clean running water, but we were used to that kind of a life,” complained Zanele Ndlovu.

“The new house has no running water, so we can’t flush the toilet and I have to go to relatives’ houses if I want to relieve myself,” she added.

But Nigel Gumede, the chairperson of the housing department in eThekwini municipality, downplayed the complaints. He said the houses had water and in cases where there was none, pipes had been installed to help people access water while waiting for the taps to be fitted in.