POLOKO TAU
AN RDP home without electricity isn’t very different to a shack.
This is the opinion of residents in Naledi who have been living in RDP houses for three years without any lights.
The houses, which are nicknamed Tsunami, on the north side of the Naledi train station, were built for people who lived in three informal settlements in the area.
Residents said they had started moving into the houses in late 2008 and had been hoping to get their homes connected to electricity soon after. It has been years and now they don’t know if they will ever enjoy using electricity.
Eva Mbuyane, 54, said her community had been “hoping to enjoy a completely new life when we moved into our new houses”.
“These houses are better than a shack in terms of the structure, but we still get sick from using paraffin. I’m asthmatic and it is not getting any better being in a house filled with paraffin smoke all the time,” Mbuyane said.
Another resident, Enika Mokhere, moved into her new house from the Naledi extension 2 informal settlement in December 2008.
“The only difference between our shacks and these houses are walls and proper toilets. Other than that our lives have been the same without electricity and relying on paraffin and wood fire,” she said.
“Paraffin has also (become) expensive and we spend more than that with electricity. The same paraffin is killing people by causing fires easily and producing these fumes that are not good for our health.”
Mokhere said they had also been promised that their streets would be tarred, but that hadn’t happened.
“All the streets in Soweto are tarred and only Tsunami of all the new RDP areas has no tarred roads. We will only enjoy a different life to that of a shack once we have electricity,” Mokhere said.
When asked why Naledi RDPs were still without electricity, the City of Joburg said the building of the houses was a provincial project and referred The Star to the Gauteng Department of Local Government and Housing.
Department spokesman Motsamai Motlhaolwa said they were aware of the lack of electricity in the area.
“The whole issue of electricity was facilitated by the three ward councillors in the area, meaning that people were informed about the issue,” he said. “Eskom is responsible for the installation of electricity.
“Eskom has indicated that they will install the electricity during the 2011/12 financial year, but will start with the construction of a sub-station.”
So residents face at least a year longer without power.
Motlhaolwa said: “The department plans and budgets funds for services and construction of houses while Eskom or City Power do the same for electrification… it depends on the allocated budget for the project.”