SOME had waited a lifetime to move from shacks into their own brick homes in the 1990s. But what was once labelled a “dream come true” has now been shattered as thousands of Bay township and northern areas residents will watch helplessly as their RDP homes are broken down.

The demolition, due to shoddy workmanship, has not just brought heartache but their reconstruction will cost millions of tax rands.

Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale said this month that R800-million had been set aside for the reconstruction of badly built, free low-cost houses in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu Natal put up between 1994 and 2002.

Weekend Post visited several affected families in Walmer Township, Jacksonville, Motherwell and Soweto-on-Sea where the extent of the structural damage was clear.

All families interviewed had waited “many years” to move into their own brick homes and now fear they will have to return to shacks.

It’s been a bitter blow for residents like Portia Gqabavu, of Walmer Township, who lived in a shack on the same plot before her RDP house was built. It has no ceilings.

“It rains in my house. My zinc roof is rusted and loose and, whenever there are strong winds, my doors shake, the walls move and windows bang,” she said.

“Sometimes my children cry when the wind blows strong. The roof lifts up and we can see the sky.

“I’m disappointed in the government. In 2007, someone came and took notes of all the faults, but my cry for help has fallen on deaf ears.”

Nearby, pensioner Lulama Ntuthu received her house in 2002 after a lifetime of shack living. Her son and grandson live with her.

“We do not sleep here. The windows and roof make banging noises and flip open. I have to use a pliers to close the tap that started leaking three months after we got the house.”

When told defective houses were to be rebuilt, she was concerned about “what those plans will include”.

“I don’t want history to repeat itself. When we were moved from Airportville, it was terrible. They took us with a lorry and dumped us here. We had to start from scratch and rebuild our shacks and now I’m too old to be moving around.”

Jobless and wheelchair-bound Derick Ndzondo, of Motherwell, says: “I’ve had this house since 2003 and it won’t be long before it falls apart. I have trouble getting in and out and moving around inside. I can’t afford to have a ramp put in at my door, and because the ground is not level (outside) I once rolled down into the road and was nearly knocked over by a motorist.

“I fell once and reported this to the councillor for the area, but nothing much was done about it.”

Buyiswa Siko, who moved into her house in 2001, said it was about to collapse. She had reported faults to the municipality but “they told me it was not their responsibility but a matter for the government”.

In Jacksonville, Angelique Swartz said angrily: “I deserve better than this. After I complained to the councillor and the municipality, some people surveyed the house and I was promised a Wendy house, but this never happened.”

The government will spend more than R33-million to rebuild and repair 1852 houses in the Bay.