Note to Broadcasters: Please find linked soundbites in English and Setswana by Cllr Neo Mabote.
The DA in the Mahikeng Local Municipality accompanied the South African Human Rights Commission’s (SAHRC) investigative team on an oversight inspection at an incomplete Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) housing project in Ward 24 two days ago.
The DA requested the SAHRC to investigate this housing project in March this year. The RDP project has been left abandoned by both the Mahikeng Local Municipality and the North West Department of Human Settlements for more than ten years.
The RDP houses remain incomplete, and most buildings are now dilapidated and unroofed. Beneficiaries are forced to live in makeshift structures to protect themselves from the elements, while they are reminded every day of the promise of properly constructed homes that should have been transferred to them years ago. See pictures here, here, and here.
The SAHRC is investigating several complaints on abandoned housing projects in North West and is hosting a public inquiry into incomplete and poorly built RDP houses in the province from yesterday until 12 May 2023 at Seasons Conference Wedding Venue in Mahikeng. The DA will participate in these engagements.
Unfortunately, the housing crisis in Ward 24 is not an isolated incident which makes it evident that the ANC-run Municipality is unable to deal with the housing backlog in Mahikeng.
The DA looks forward to the outcome of the SAHRC inquiry and will continue to fight for the restoration of dignity and ensure that the rights of beneficiaries are upheld.