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Man’s desperate 10-year wait for an RDP house

A 52-YEAR-OLD man from Ngubeni in Kwa Gezubuso says he has been waiting for an RDP house for 10 years.

Norman Zondi says he registered to be one of the beneficiaries of an RDP house but even now he has not yet received a new home.

He claims that whenever he visits the Vulindlela Development Association (VDA) to inquire about the progress of his application the VDA employees tell him that he will not receive an RDP house because he is unmarried.

“I am desperately in need of a house. I live in one that can collapse at any time now. I really do not know what my marital status has to do with anything. I am old and I don’t have the power to build or fix the one-room house that I am living in. I am unemployed and surviving on grant money because I am sick. This money is not enough to take care of me and build a house.

“What is more painful is that people living in my area are getting their RDP houses left, right, and centre. Even people that came to live in the area after me have RDP houses now. Why am I being isolated as if I am not a member of the community?” Zondi asked.

Zondi claims he has tried numerous times to speak to ward councillor Nkosinathi Mbanjwa but his promises have gone unfulfilled. Zondi said Mbanjwa is not the only one who has promised to help him.

“Every time I speak to our ward councillor he tells me that he will get people to assist me so that my house can be approved and built but nothing is happening.

“I am even scared now to go back to the VDA because I know they are going to mock me because I am unmarried.

“If it was up to me I would have left this house a long time ago but I have nowhere to go. All my family have died, including my wife, and I have no children. This is my home — I have nowhere else to go. Even if it’s a two-room house, as long as it is a decent house I would not mind,” he said.

Ward five councillor Nkosinathi Mbanjwa said he was not aware of Zondi’s problem.

He said he will try and make contact with him to see how he can assist him, saying: “In ward five we have exceeded the number of the RDP houses that we were supposed to build but if we discover that there are families who got approved for more than one RDP house we can take one RDP house and give it to people who really need it.

“I do not know how Zondi got excluded on the list if he says that he registered,” said Mbanjwa.

VDA was not available for comment.

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