Fresh concerns over an abandoned RDP housing development site in Motherwell have arisen after vandals started picking apart the vacant structures brick by brick.
Ward 54 councillor Melgan Tshaka raised these concerns with Nelson Mandela Bay human settlements political head Andile Mfunda during a site inspection in Motherwell’s NU30 and NU29 on Tuesday.
The housing project has been idle for nearly four years as the budget was depleted and there were concerns the homes had become structurally unsound.
It had cost the city about R1m a month for security at the Motherwell housing project since December 2015.
Tshaka said the municipality had pulled security from the site and since it had done so the structures had been vandalised and building materials stolen.
“You have people pulling out roof tiles in the vacant houses, taking windows out and removing doors from the structures.
“We want the current leadership to intervene and look at how security is deployed across the metro.
“If that’s an issue, we at least want the metro police to be visible in the area, because every night the structures are being vandalised.”
Tshaka said they had reported the looting to police but did not know who the perpetrators vandalising the houses were as it could be people living in other areas.
“We’ve had two people die in these vandalised structures, one was trying to steal bricks and fell to his death and another was a 14-year-old girl who was raped and killed after a night out,” Tshaka said.
NU30 resident Ntombekaya Kondlo said vandals came day and night to pick apart the vacant houses but it had become worse since the security guards had been removed.
“I fear for the safety of my family because you can’t even say anything because you don’t know who these people are and we’re way out here.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s day or night but people come with their hammers and start removing bricks and you’d be woken up in the middle of the night by banging because they’re busy,” Kondlo said.
A man who only identified himself as Gaba said community members had tried to defend the structures but were threatened by the vandals.
“We tried our best because these houses are built for our people, but when we tried to intervene one said I would have to watch my back,” Gaba said.
Mfunda said he planned to meet with human settlements MEC Babalo Madikizela to make a decision regarding the housing development once and for all.
“As it stands this is fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
“This is the government’s money and as the portfolio head I commit myself. We must close this chapter.
“You can’t have security guarding this place when this is a human settlements issue.
“We need to take a decision as the municipality or as province or national to fix these structures with speed so that the beneficiaries can move into their homes,” Mfunda said.
Housing development project manager Ayanda Sobikwa said the project had been blocked by the province.
“We’re in the process of applying for the project to be unblocked so that the municipality can continue and finish construction.
“We still need to assess and verify the damage and which structures need rectification so that we can estimate the cost of everything,” Sobikwa said.
Sobikwa said the department of human settlements had completed 330 of the 730 duplexes that needed to be built.