Blind woman from eMbalenhle is desperate for an RDP house
She was only recently told the stand which she had been occupying for the past 15 years, is registered in someone else’s name.
Blind Sophie Mokabela (70) from Ext 20 in eMbalenhle has been applying for an RDP house since 2006, but was only recently told the stand she occupies is registered in someone else’s name.
She has been living in a shack on this stand for more than 15 years and desperately needs an RDP house because the shack is falling apart.
According to Mokabela, her pleads to councillors to consider her condition fell on deaf ears and all she has received thus far, are empty promises.
“When I recently again applied for an RDP house at the municipality, I was told that I must go look for the man with whom I was living at the time when people had been relocated to Ext 20.
“Apparently, the stand is in this man’s name and I never knew this, because I am blind.”
Mokabela does not know how to locate the man, because it’s been years since she last had contact with him and she is blind.
“What if the man died years ago?
“That means I will not get an RDP house, although I was promised a house during the elections.”
Mokabelo said she and her three grandchildren are always living in fear that their leaking shack will be blown or flashed away during a storm or a flood in the summer.
Her three-room shack leaks when it rains, turning the floor muddy.
Mokabela said her neighbours already know to prepare a sleeping space for her and the grandchildren during the rainy season.
Donald Green, acting communication manager of the Govan Mbeki Municipality confirmed the stand on which Mokabela resides is indeed registered in another person’s name and the municipality doesn’t know
who allocated Mokabela to that stand.
Green said they do not know the whereabouts of the stand owner and can therefore not build an RDP house for Mokabela on a stand that belongs to someone else.
