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SERVICE PLEASE: Linah Masango has been applying for an RDP house for many years. She fears the mud hut she lives in will fall on her. Photo: Sibongile Mashaba

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WHEN a strong wind blows or heavy rain falls, all that Linah Khabonina Masango does is kneel down on her knees, pray and hope that her one-roomed mud hut does not fall on her.

Masango, of KaMadakwa Ndlovu in Barberton, Mpumalanga, says she has been living in a mud house all her life.

"I have been registering for an RDP house for many years but I have not received it. Each time I go to the (Umjindi local) municipality offices, I am given a form to fill. Thereafter, nothing happens," says Masango, who does not know her exact age.

"I do not have a toilet in my yard. Each time I want to relieve myself, I have to go to my neighbour's house and ask to use the toilet. I do that even in the middle of the night. I do not have a choice. What can I do?" she asks politely.

"I do not know what I could have done to deserve this. It seems I am being punished for something I have done but I do not know what it is."

Masango used tree trunks and mud to build the structure she calls home. There is a window with zinc shutters but she never opens it because her shack has cracks.

"The house I live in can fall on me any time. The one side fell some time ago but I was not hurt," she says.

"The worst could happen if it falls again. I do not sleep at night, especially when it is windy or when it rains.

"The people I went to the municipal offices with on several times to register for RDP houses will be moving into their houses soon," she adds, pointing to an unfinished RDP house in a yard next to hers.

Surprisingly, Masango has electricity supply.

Her mud house is scantily furnished. There is a single-sleeper bed, a table on which she has placed a two-plate stove. Some of her clothes hang against the wall.

The door is worn out. It does not have a lock. At night, she just twists the nail on the door frame and goes to bed.

"I wish I knew why this is happening. It is hurting me to see people get RDP houses when I still stay in a mud house.

"It gets really cold at night. As you can see, there are holes almost on every corner. When it rains, everything gets wet. I want a house," she says.

Residents in the area say they are also concerned about her safety.

Neighbour Flora Hlophe says: "She cannot lock the door. The mud house can fall on her any time. This is confusing because young people in the area own RDP houses.

"Why is she not getting a house?"

Municipal spokesman Sam Jele says all housing issues are directed to the provincial department of housing.

Provincial housing department spokesman Freddy Ngobe says it is not the duty of the department to give people houses.

"We build a certain number of houses per annum and the municipalities identify beneficiaries," Ngobe told Sowetan.

"The department would not know who needs a house and who doesn't. What we do after a person has been given a house, is register them in the system so that the person cannot register for a house again in another area." - mashabas@sowetan.co.za

• This investigative report was first published in the printed newspaper and e-Edition on 10 August 2012

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Thu May 23 05:21:39 SAST 2013 ::

Aug 13, 2012

raludzingana

No wonder, people of Mpumalanga and his Boss David Mabuza are backing JZ for second term, Now you must pay that with such poverty,Look, they are busy planning to build Zumavulle with whooping 2bill so then his wife and children with enjoy our tax comfortable. and they forgot your vote.
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Aug 13, 2012

Papage

Why these types of demostrations only happens when election are nearing and when ANC conferences are near, is this how the ANC deal with its issues? I am sick and tired of these violence, destroying our own properties, streets lighting and schools, please parents and children, let us stop doing this to ourselves. Lets give politians long robes to hang themselves
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Aug 13, 2012

CAKE1

Old woman - while u were young you were busy selling C@ke in Jozi and chowing all u'r money with some fashion Pepe and Sphanga of that time.....what do u want the GVNMT to do.....nxaaaaaaaa
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Aug 13, 2012

acekay

lol! cake1, jozi chowin cake, sum ppl r jst 2 ignorant, help dA GVMNT so dat it can help u 2,
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Aug 13, 2012

CAKE1

@acekay

All those 1910 Makgosha's are now acting innocent complaining that the GVNMT promised them RDP's. They should stay wherever they were staying before and leave JZ alone. ZJ don't care who eat what as long as his f@t wives are eating pizza 24/7 a day...he doedn't care abt them so they must just sit down.
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Aug 13, 2012

Babey

CAKE 1 - YOU ARE TALKING NONSENSE , THIS OLD LADY DOESN'T EVEN KNOW WHAT SCHOOL IS, NOR EVEN READ OR WRITE AND NOW YOU COME AND TALK ABOUT THE MONEY SHE WASTED . MAYBE SHE HAS BEEN SUFFERING THROUGHOUT HER LIFE WHILE STILL LIVING WITH PARENTS GROWING UP IN COMMUNAL LANDS WHERE THERE IS NO WAY OF ATTENDING SCHOOL OR GETTING A JOB. SO PLEASE BALA AMAGAMA WAKHO
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Aug 13, 2012

Papage

@ Cake1, I hear you clearly my Sister, but let us give a benefit of doubt to the old people, they were disadvantaged by appartheid, some of them like this Gogo worked for nothing in the Farms in Mpumalanga, now their lives are like this. It is up to us economic active citizens that must help the Government to help them, Let us help them, I have a problem with those 18 years old receiving RDP houses and yet old Mamas like this one still stay in mud houses. The 18 years old must go find employment
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Aug 13, 2012

RobinH

It's easy to spotlight service delivery here, as there is so little to focus on.
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Aug 13, 2012

CAKE1

ZJ doesn't care abt anyone but his 4 f@t wives.....
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Aug 13, 2012

RobinH

Cake: and any other female within 200 yards.
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