The clusters of shacks and dilapidated buildings that make up the majority of the housing in the Transit Camp area will soon be history.
This is the result of a project facilitated by Makana Municipality, Powerhouse and KV3 Engineers, as they work together to build RDP homes for Transit Camp residents.
The clusters of shacks and dilapidated buildings that make up the majority of the housing in the Transit Camp area will soon be history.
This is the result of a project facilitated by Makana Municipality, Powerhouse and KV3 Engineers, as they work together to build RDP homes for Transit Camp residents.
Makana spokesperson Thandy Matebese did not respond to the questions that Grocott’s Mail posed to him. However, Billy Krige, site manager for KV3, assures residents that the new houses will be of far better quality than previous RDP housing in Grahamstown.
This is because stricter rules are now being applied in the construction of RDP houses. In certain areas such as Eluxolweni for example, residents complained that some RDP houses seemed to be unfinished, with no running water coming out of the taps and incomplete bathrooms.
Nevertheless, Krige says that the new RDP houses will be fully plastered with full bathrooms and tiled roofs. He also adds that the ceilings will be of good quality, as will the windows and frames.
According to Krige, the cost of making one house is estimated at R70 000, and it is expected that each new house will take about two and a half weeks to build.
This is good news, particularly for Zwandile Cakwebe, a Transit Camp resident who says he has been waiting for a new house for eight years.
Cakwebe also says he is excited at the thought of having running water because there are no taps installed inside his house. He says that he has to walk very far to find water for his household a difficult task, considering he is 67 years old.
Nomaxabiso Ntengo (24) who lives in a two-roomed shack in Transit Camp, also expressed her excitement at the project. She describes her current living conditions, saying, “We have a big family of ten people, and there’s not enough space for all of us. We are all sleeping in one room.”
The health risks that such a situation poses are exacerbated by the inefficient municipal services in the area. For instance, most shacks in the Transit Camp area have no access to running water.
Instead, most residents have to walk a considerable distance to fetch water from a tap on the side of the street. Ntengo adds, “The toilet is another problem.
It’s a long drop, so when it’s full, the municipality takes long to come and empty it. You can report three times and they won’t come.”
Even with promises of speedy construction of houses in the area, Ntengo has reservations on the project’s efficiency.
She says, “It’s going to take a long time because they came three weeks ago and they haven’t finished the foundation yet.” However,for herself and other Transit Camp residents, the future may not be so bad after all.
