Kwa Norman’s low cost housing fiasco - a monumental waste of money

Four years after a R800m housing project took off, it is still lying fallow, with the units in various stages of completion in Tarlton, west Mogale City. The city fathers blame everything from the Covid-19 pandemic-induced lockdown to delays in payment for the completion of the 2018 project, while the intended beneficiaries express ambivalence towards the new houses.

The common thread is that the residents of Kwa Norman, formerly a brick factory, which falls under Ward 26 of the Mogale City local municipality, and on whose land the sod was turned for the Brick Valley RDP project, were not consulted. “I was there from day one, when the plans were drawn and the foundations subsequently dug,” says community leader Bongani Mabasa. “The first complaint was that the yards were too small. Without further engagement, they started building.”

This unilateralism was to set the tone for the low-cost housing project, with the authorities bulldozing ahead without giving an audience to the prospective homeowners. “There are no lights there,” Mabasa says. “The houses are small. There is not even space to expand or renovate the house. You can’t build back rooms. If you have kids, like me, what is to become of them when they grow up? You cannot free them with their own space.”

This is the common gripe among the would-be home owners. “You can’t fit a couch in there. A bed would be a stretch.” Mabasa says he is sub-contracted to the project. He extends his arms to demonstrate this point: “If I stand in the middle, I can touch both houses.” A car mechanic in the area says indeed he applied and was granted a subsidy: “But I do not see myself going there. Where would I park my clients’ cars?”

Mabasa says there was talk of a car park being erected nearby: “How do I sleep here and park my car elsewhere?” The mechanic says as Africans, “we have rituals we perform” but the new area doesn’t offer the space concession. It was a monumental waste of money, another man opines. But what is the solution? Would they rather continue to live in the hovels they inherited from their forebears who worked at the brick factory than move to new houses?

“Everything used to build those houses was cheap material,” the residents echo one another. “God forbid, but once the rains come, those houses are going to collapse.” Mabasa says: “Let them complete Phase 1. Then maybe, they will start building better houses, with more space.” He cites examples of other RDP houses in the vicinity “that are much better than these containers”.

An old man on a bicycle, who says he has grown children who are unmarried, refers to the new houses as offices. Where will my children go, he asks? The same old man says he grew up farming: “I live on the land. I have a garden. When I am hungry, I go into my garden. There is no space for a garden there. I keep poultry to feed my family. If I take a house there, it means I must forget about feeding my family. I don’t have the money to buy food.”

On Tuesday, the Mogale City mayor led a site inspection visit to Brick Valley. “We did not know,” the residents say. In January 2022, the then new mayor, Tyrone Gray, had told this newspaper: “I am aware of both the unfinished and near-complete sections. We have been bringing this matter to the media since 2019/2020/2021.”

He added: “The investigation has been triggered. I will await the outcome of the report. The issue isn't the funds but administrative concerns that have been raised relating to allocations and appointments. The project must be completed and come back online. with constant and close monitoring.”

Though Gray had said all the right things upon taking office, among them that “the project must be fast-tracked” and that “sustainable housing is a priority to address developmental backlogs and improve lives,” the residents claim he has never listened to their grievances regarding Brick Valley.

According to the municipality’s website, Brick Valley “was initially allocated a budget of R834m covering water and sewerage, electricity, roads, and stormwater as well as construction and related professional fees. Given annual revised calculations due to building material and related services increases as well as other challenges impacting on the overall project costs, the project is almost at R1bn.”

According to the website, 281 units of the 40sq.m homes were near completion -- 80% complete, and will be ready for occupation at the end of September 2022. “A further estimated 300 homes are expected to be done (sic) in the first half of 2023.”

One applicant who is awaiting a decision from the municipality says: “The houses are already built. It will be folly not to take advantage of them and move in. I'm going to take the occupation once I'm allocated one.”