Elderly residents of Soweto-on-Sea, leaning on crutches and walking sticks, gathered outside the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality’s administrative headquarters to demand intervention in a housing crisis that has persisted for more than 20 years.
They were accompanied by local youth, who sang and carried placards at the main entrance of Lillian Diedericks House (Brister House), while security officers stood guard to prevent any disruption inside the building.
They were bussed in by the ANC’s Ward 24 councillor, Xolile Vinqi, who said he was frustrated at being ignored by officials when he wrote to them about the issues.
He hoped to get answers from the human settlements executive director, Tabiso Mfeya.
Among the concerns raised were the poor condition of houses in the area — including cracked walls, leaking roofs and water seeping through floors due to broken underground municipal pipes.
The residents are also calling on the municipality to honour its long-standing promise to build houses for backyard dwellers.
In addition, they are demanding the extension of their sites, arguing they are too small to accommodate their families.
“Soweto-on-Sea is an old community with many small sites where two house structures are built on one property,” Vinqi said.
“The municipality promised to conduct replanning where one household would be moved to another site, but that has not been done.
“Among the main issues is the rectification of the existing houses that were built pre-1994.”
But he said most of the houses were in no condition to be lived in.
“There are many elderly people who live in people’s backyards. Many of them are here because they were promised houses years ago.”
Vinqi said all these issues had been raised with the municipality.
The residents were previously told to fill out a petition submission form, which they did on July 17 when they first raised their concerns.
They were told to wait for seven days.
On Wednesday, they were instructed to repeat the task but declined.
An official spoke with residents but said he was busy with a meeting and assured them their grievances would be forwarded to the appropriate people.
Municipal spokesperson Sithembiso Soyaya said the metro was finalising the appointment of multidisciplinary teams to fast-track the rectification and improvement of housing stock, including damaged roofs and other defects.
“These efforts are part of a broader plan to strengthen human settlement delivery and ensure every resident has access to safe, habitable housing.
“As part of these improvements, work is under way to address challenges associated with small site sizes, with a relocation plan designed to ensure residents are settled in areas better suited for human habitation.
“This includes taking into account floodline analyses to avoid placing families in areas at risk of underground water seepage and related structural issues.”
Soyaya said the Zanemvula housing project remained a priority under the ministerial intervention programme.
“The project is ongoing, with revised layout plans now under development to improve settlement planning and address community concerns.”
The Zanemvula housing project was started years ago by the national department of human settlements, but Vinqi said the project stopped for no reason.
One of the elderly residents at the protest, 74-year-old Nancy Pisani, said her house was in no condition for someone her age to live in.
“I arrived in Soweto in 1976.
“The houses that were built at the time are dilapidated.
“My roof leaks when it rains.
“As we speak, even though it is not raining, water floods inside and the yard.
“It is a mess,” Pisani said.
“There’s a whole community of people affected by this.
“It is no condition for voters to live. We are sickly and need the municipality to rescue us.
“It is long overdue.”
Another resident, Thamsanqa Nyodi, 52, said it appeared services were not delivered because the area was a no-go zone.
“We live in an area officials and politicians are too scared to bring services to.
“But when they campaign for our votes, that fear magically disappears,” Nyodi said.
“We are treated as subhumans. Services are rendered in all other areas, but Soweto-on-Sea is always left out, and their excuse is crime.
“Criminals are everywhere in this city,and as a municipality with Metro Police, that excuse is not valid.
“If you went to any random house right now, as the sun shines, you would find people on beds because there is water all over the floor.
“We have been blaming the councillor for a long time, but the way we are treated by the municipality today shows that even the councillor is undermined.”
The Herald
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