Uproar over RDP house

20 April 2010 - 02:00
By Michael Sakuneka

DISGRUNTLED community members of GaPaka village outside Modjadjiskloof in Limpopo are outraged after an RDP house was turned into a spaza shop.

The residents said the owner of the house, whose name is known to Sowetan, had since moved out of the house and is now living at Nthabiseng village.

They claimed that the man had only acquired the house for business purposes and had no intention of living there.

They were unhappy that the house, which was meant to benefit them, had been turned into a spaza shop.

The house is one of the 500 RDP houses built by the department of local government and housing in the province in conjunction with the Molemole local municipality.

Spokesperson for the residents Isaac Rababalela said the residents became aware of the problem of the house early last month, but when they informed the Molemole municipality the officials told them to go and evict the occupants themselves.

The Congolese businessmen renting the house had pulled down walls that separate the rooms. He had installed shelves on which to display stock for sale.

"We are very much disturbed, because there are hundreds of families who have no roofs over their heads while the house which is supposed to be allocated to them went to wrong people," Rababalela said.

He said the ward councillor had also been informed about the situation but it seemed he was reluctant to deal with the problem.

Attempts to get comment from the municipality failed due to the week-long strike by the South African Municipal Workers Union.