Security guard still waiting for promised house

The Limpopo Department of Co-operative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs had announced that it would build new residential units at the Seshego hostels near Polokwane. That was in 2010. Originally from the rural village of Ga-Kibi in Senwabarwana (formerly known as Bochum), the 60-year-old security guard was impressed by then Department of Co-operative Governance, Human Settlement and Traditional Affairs MEC Soviet Lekganyane’s announcement that the multimillion-rand housing project would “restore people’s dignity with dignified housing”.

The 189 units were to be constructed for mainly former hostel dwellers and others by businessman Steve Bosch to the tune of R41 million. The married father, who has been struggling to get a decent job over the years, hoped to benefit from the project because he was already staying at the hostel. His income as a security guard was not enough to make ends meet. Those who earned meagre income were to be given priority. Mabeso had temporarily moved into a shack in Seshego township’s Zone 3, after staying at the old, dilapidated Seshego hostels for 34 years. His new shelter had no electricity, but he did not mind because he regarded the arrangement as a temporary measure.

He hoped to relocate to the refurbished hostels with his wife and children as some of the units would be ideal for a family set-up. However, Mabeso’s excitement turned to gloom when Bosch failed to meet construction deadlines repeatedly over the past two years, according to official documents. The businessman’s firm, Raesetja Property Developers, trading as Sizani Build It, had been awarded the lucrative tender in April 2010 for R41 383 115. Mabeso said Bosch’s failure to complete the project had left him and other poor people high and dry.

He said he had left his family back home at Ga-Kibi because of the incomplete hostels. “I can’t imagine what the situation would have been had I taken my entire family along… Look, this tiny shack serves as a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and dining room – everything you could think of. “That’s why I am not staying with the rest of my family. How were we going to have our privacy in this small room?” asked Mabeso. With the rainy season coming soon, his worst fear is that the shaky, leaking roof could be blown away by storms.

Mabeso said he had been overlooked when his fellow hostel dwellers were given RDP houses even though he had registered and submitted the necessary papers. “There was favouritism in allocating the houses by some members of the hostel committee, who then overlooked my application.” Both Bosch and the department’s spokeswoman did not respond to repeated calls, text messages and e-mails for comment.