Vandalised RDP homes cause residents misery

SHABALALA – Vandalised RDP houses in some areas give residents sleepless nights as they are used by criminals to commit crimes such as the rape of women.

As we celebrate Women’s Month throughout the country, females in this area called upon government to honour them by taking a step towards addressing the problem of these houses.

They went further and indicated that they had experienced several incidents of rape as a result. Some of them suggested the homes be demolished as they posed a danger to women.
When Mpumalanga News visited some of these vandalised houses, used condoms could be seen on the floor.

One community member, Ms Winnie Matsane told this paper that women no longer felt free.

“It’s a normal occurrence to hear a female shouting for help in our area. Most of them are raped when they return from work at night since we don’t even have electricity here.

It’s dark and we are too afraid to assist these victims as we don’t know how many attackers there are.
“Something must be done, we are not coping with this situation,” said Matsane.

During the crime imbizo held in March at Amersfoort and hosted by the MEC for community safety, security and liaison, Mr Vusi Shongwe, he called upon mayors and councillors to address the issue of old abandoned houses and shacks as some might be used for crime activities.
He said, “It’s about time for mayors and councillors to start monitoring unused buildings because criminals can kidnap women and rape them in these structures.”

Shongwe had taken action since his call last Tuesday as he led discussions with representatives from public works and the executive mayor of Mbombela Local Municipality, Cllr Cathy Dlamini, where he indicated that the central business district contributed to crime as it provided a haven for criminals.

Speaking to Mpumalanga News, Shongwe indicated that he would continue visiting other municipalities since he had noticed that unused buildings were causing problems in the community.

“We are going to approach other municipalities on this issue. We are just starting here at Mbombela. I was in Amersfoort where we discovered a home that used by criminals to rape children and in Bushbuckridge a dangerous criminal, Douglas Mogakane was using unoccupied houses as his hiding place while police were hunting him down.”We are not only dealing with delivering houses, but the problem of unused homes or buildings must be addressed,” said Shongwe.
He added if there were no future plans regarding those unused buildings, they had to be demolished because as long as criminals had hideouts from which to operate the police would not succeed in the fight against crime.

This problem comes at a time when the incidents of rape in the province seems to have become a normal part of life even though it is Women’s Month.