Booysens informal settlement gets its first ‘mansion’

Mthandeni Mkhize feels like royalty living his life in a double-storey shack in Booysens informal settlement in Selby south of Johannesburg, he told Southern Courier.

He first started by building a one-room shack, but with limited space, he opted to extend upwards. The double-storey is now a four bedroom house, which has provided him with some income.

Mthandeni lives in one room, and rents out the other three.

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The mansion has become something of a landmark for the community. Residents love taking pictures of the house and everyone in the community knows Mthandeni’s double-storey.

The double-storey is made up of boxes, wood, aluminium doors and chains.

He even installed CCTV in every room of the house and claims that no one helped him in building his dream double-storey. He believes that he has inspired a lot of residents to also build their dream homes in the squatter camp.

“When one builds a house obviously you have to spend a lot of money. I don’t even think of reducing the size of my double-storey. Residents love viewing my house and it makes me feel good, and that makes me think of building a triple-storey house in the coming years,” Mthandeni said.

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