Tired, elderly, and frustrated — dozens of senior citizens from different townships in Ekurhuleni gathered outside the ANC’s Luthuli House in Johannesburg, demanding the government fulfill its promise of RDP houses made nearly three decades ago.
They say they have been waiting since 1996, yet their names remain on the housing waiting list while others — allegedly with money or connections — have benefited.
“Many of them died without getting their RDP houses,” said Nomalizo Khumalo from Katlehong.
“These houses are being sold to people who can afford them, while we, the poor, are left with nothing.”
Khumalo, like many others, believes corruption has robbed her of a home she has long deserved.
For 67-year-old Fridda Mbatha, the struggle has been lifelong. Holding tightly to her worn C-form proof that she applied years ago she says she has spent most of her life renting.
“We want the ANC to fight for us because we are helpless,” Mbatha said.
“I’m now old and still paying R1,500 rent from my pension of R2,300. Many elderly women have died waiting for their houses. We just want a place to call our own.”
Mbatha lives with five family members, including her grandchildren, cramped in a two-bedroom home in Katlehong.
Themba Vilakazi from Thokoza shares a small shack with six relatives, some of them women.
“We are too many in one shack. I’m old and sickly, and I want my family to have a house before I die,” he said quietly.
Community leader Pat Khumalo said residents had no choice but to take their grievances directly to the ANC headquarters.
“We’ve engaged ANC deployees with no success. They keep shifting blame between the party and government,” he said.
“We are warning them, they must hold their deployees accountable.”
Khumalo said the office of the ANC Secretary-General had called for an urgent meeting between the group and Gauteng Human Settlements MEC Tasneem Motara. However, the meeting was postponed to November 10 as some residents did not have the required documents.
The Department of Human Settlements had not responded to Newsnote’s questions at the time of publication.
