Man (86) rents backyard room after failed promises of RDP house

Mkhulu Sitani Kuselo of Nxiweni Section is still homeless and waiting for his promised RDP house, 25 years into democracy.

In an interview with this paper, the 86-year-old held nothing back as he opened up about his pain of having to rent a backyard room and pay it with his pension grant, which isn’t enough to last him until the next payout date.

“I actually applied for an RDP house years ago and I was even told it was approved, but I have never seen it with my own eyes. What makes the pain even deeper is the fact that at my age, I am still living and renting a backroom from another person’s yard. What is going to happen when I die? I will be a burden to the owner of the yard even at death, like I am now, because she will have to find means of burying me and cleansing her yard,” he said.

According to African culture, it is a norm that if someone, especially a stranger, dies at another person’s place, a cleansing ceremony has to be performed to get rid of possible bad spirits and to remove the soul of the dead person from one’s property.

Mkhulu Kuselo said he doesn’t want to bring stress to other people, especially when he dies.

“I am old now, and time is quickly running out. I may die anytime soon and if that happens while I am still renting here it won’t be right for the owners, because they will have to use their own money to do a cleansing ceremony. I don’t like it, but I don’t have a choice because I am stranded and in desperate need of a roof over my head,” he added.

Kuselo also showed this newspaper some of the documents he was given by government officials in Germiston, at the City of Ekurhuleni.

The documents contained his name, site number and status of his application. The status proved that his application was approved at site No. 98.

Kuselo said he was incredibly frustrated by this saga. “It’s totally frustrating and I believe that, since my house was approved, it was given to someone closer to those in higher places. I have been in every government office to get help, but no one is willing to help me. I am even beginning to believe that I will die in the streets,” he said.

He added that he hears other people talking about the gains of democracy, and says he has never tasted how democracy feels like.

“Maybe when I have my own house, I will tell you about democracy and what we have been fighting for as a country, but for now, I feel democracy is only reserved for a few individuals,” he lamented.

Attempts to get comment from the Department of Human Settlements proved fruitless as they failed to respond to written inquiries from this paper.