Fight over RDP homes in East London

Residents of Fynbos 1, East Bank, in East London paint a grim picture of how they were left in the dark ever since their RDP houses were occupied by other people in 2018.

In 2015, more than two hundred families were removed by the municipality from an informal settlement, Squatter Camp A & B and placed at Bungalows “temporarily” to make way for the construction of their RDP houses. However, seven years later, they are still fighting to obtain their rightful RDP houses.

Community member, Nomonde Gqisha said the municipality has failed them as they still do not have houses. “When I speak of this, I become emotional because the Buffalo City municipality has failed us; we were abandoned in these dilapidated structures for years. We are now sick; people die due to colds because the roofs are leaking, there is flooding, and in summer the heat is unbearable,” she said.

“When those people started occupying our houses, I alerted the municipality. I can recall it was a Sunday. Only a few houses were occupied at the time, but nothing was done and it eventually turned ugly. We have been to the mayor’s office, but she refused to engage us; we opened a case at Fleet Street, we protested and instead Princess Faku, [the mayor], took us to court,” said Gqisha. She admitted that the municipality made numerous attempts to evict the occupiers, a saga, she said, that could have been avoided.

After their failed attempts to meet Faku, they decided to open a criminal case against the municipal officials who are alleged to have sold the houses. Chairperson of National Community Dialogue, a service delivery watchdog, Leornard Ncumbese confirmed that a case was opened against the officials. “The issue is that there are officials who are alleged to have sold some of the RDP house and they are also renting them out. Yes, we did open a case, but we have not heard anything thereafter. The community has written to the Public Protector for intervention, and I have taken the matter to the National Assembly through a petition signed by the affected community,” Ncumbese said.

Communities in conflict

Meanwhile, residents of Chicken Farm near Mdantsane have blamed the municipality’s flawed processes for occupation of RDP houses. One of them, who asked not to be named, said, “I have resided here close to four years; we took a decision to occupy these houses because they were being vandalised. Knowing that I am a beneficiary to this project, I decided to take action and protect what is mine from being destroyed.” He admitted that they were evicted many times but maintained that he owns the house.

“It is untrue that we are not rightful owners. I originate from an informal settlement in Reeston and we were told that this area is reserved for our houses,” he said. Residents of Ziphuzana claimed the houses as well, he added, fueling tensions between the groups.

Another resident, Akhona Thobezweni said the desperate need for housing and lack of service delivery by the municipality has resulted in the situation. “We are being failed by the authorities here because when I came to occupy a house here, it was due to panic. It’s a mess because the house I am occupying belongs to someone else but we agreed that I will house-keep. My mother has a house here but someone else has their name written on the walls; they have marked it as theirs,” she said.

Thobezweni called on the municipality to solve the matter. She said the tensions arose because they were not welcomed by the group previously from Reeston.

When Elitsha visited the area, some houses had people’s names written on the wall in paint. Though some of the unfinished structures were unoccupied, the doors and windows were boarded up, seemingly meant to prevent the occupation of the house.

Buffalo City Metro spokesperson, Bongani Fuzile did not respond to questions on how the municipality would address the need for housing. He said the matter of the project at Chicken Farm was now with the provincial human settlements department and there were legal matters involved.