Christmas came early for five families from Mamelodi East Extension 22 when they received newly-built houses on Monday. The families’ homes had become uninhabitable due to underground water, and they had to be relocated. The MEC for Gauteng’s department of human settlements, Jacob Mamabolo, officially handed over the new houses to the beneficiaries in celebration of the 16 days of activism against woman and child abuse campaign. The rest of the beneficiaries will receive houses in January.
The families were moved from extension 22 in Mamelodi East to Nellmapius Extension 7. This year, the department managed to raise enough money to build 10 tiled-roof houses for destitute families. The houses were donated by cement company PPC and construction company Urban Dynamics, and are worth about R1.2 million. Makole Holdings donated electrical work.
Councillor Nkele Malapane approached the MEC about the situation of the families, and how they had struggled through poor living conditions for the past 10 years. Mamabolo said: “I felt like crying when I saw the living conditions of the families. They were living on stands that were under water and homes that had been built on a wetland. Their furniture and everything had been destroyed by the water seeping through the ground.”
One of the beneficiaries is Dyna Sithole, who said she was very happy to get a new home. “At first I did not believe the MEC when he said he was going to help, because many came and made empty promises and never came back – until today.”
The family of Calvin Matoti (55), a father of five who has been living with his wife and children in a shack in Mamelodi since 2004, was also overjoyed to receive a new home.
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