"The people of Ext 9 are complaining about their houses," read an SMS sent to Grocott’s Mail last week by a concerned resident.
"The people of Ext 9 are complaining about their houses," read an SMS sent to Grocott’s Mail last week by a concerned resident.
In July 2008 a government funded project began, which aimed to identify faults in the houses such as leaking roofs and cracks in the walls.
However, shortly after the project began, residents expressed their concerns that inspectors had not visited some of the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) houses.
"They need to be rebuilt because they weren’t built properly in the first place and the rain is getting inside their houses when it rains as it has in the past few weeks."
Residents are worried about what this would mean for the condition of their homes especially because it’s been almost a year later and there have no improvements.
Residents are frustrated
The problems with the cracking RDP houses cause more than discomfort to their residents.
Extension 9 resident Xoliswa Mnyanda says that her family are not able to sleep well at night because of the water and wind that come through the cracks in her home.
She is unable to report the problems to the council, as she is disabled and struggles to walk.
Another resident, Nondithini Lali, complains that the windows and door of her home shake whenever there is wind as they have come loose from the surrounding walls.
According to Ext 9 resident Gladys Abrahams further problems have been caused by her leaking roof.
Abrahams, like the SMS sender, believes that her problems stem from the house not being built properly.
"I always need to move my furniture when it rains because the roof leaks" said Abrahams.
