Pensioner’s pleas for promised home ignored

Disabled pensioner, Victoria Ncayiyana, from Sigqokweni near Nyandezulu, is pleading with the KZN Department of Human Settlements to commit to a long-standing promise to build her a government house. The commitment was made in 2022 during an ANC campaign for the by-elections in Ward 24.

Ncayiyana, who is wheelchair-bound, has been living in unsatisfactory conditions since her home, a mud structure, collapsed, forcing her and her family to squeeze into a cramped two-room house. Her granddaughter, Slindile Mthembu, recently reached out to the South Coast Fever to express her frustration over the unfulfilled promise.

The then KZN MEC for Human Settlements, Dr Ntuthuko Mahlaba, along with ANC leader Tolomane Mnyayiza, visited and urged the community to vote for the ANC.

“They promised to build us a government house within three to four days. Their contractor brought a grader to clear the site but never returned. Where is gogo’s house?” asked Mthembu.

Since 2022, all the family can see is a cleared site, ready for a new house. “I enquired at the Ugu Department of Human Settlement; they told me to speak to the contractor. The contractor told me that they are ready to build, but the department tells them that they don’t have money,” said Mthembu.

Mthembu’s family is reliant on Ncayiyana’s pension grant and struggles to make ends meet. “We are all living in such cramped conditions. My grandmother needs a wheelchair-friendly home, yet we feel abandoned and ignored,” she said.

Attempts to contact the KZN Department of Human Settlements head office have so far been unsuccessful.

Ndabezinhle Sibiya, the department’s spokesperson, was reached a week ago but has yet to respond. ANC regional spokesperson Wendy Mqadi stated she would investigate the matter but has not provided an update at the time of going to press.

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