Our front page carries photographs of two Reconstruction and Development Programme’s (RDP) houses in Vukani that are in such a terrible state of disrepair that they threaten the lives of their residents.
Our front page carries photographs of two Reconstruction and Development Programme’s (RDP) houses in Vukani that are in such a terrible state of disrepair that they threaten the lives of their residents.
They are not the only RDP houses in imminent danger of collapse. A large proportion of the houses in Vukani are already in a poor state – less than ten years after their completion.
The original motivation for the RDP housing was to provide basic accommodation for people who had been cruelly disadvantaged by apartheid. It was supposed to address the critical post-1994 housing backlog. In Makana Municipality this backlog is believed to be in excess of 12 000 units.
The intentions of the RDP are good; vast sums of money have been made available for the construction of houses and government has certainly provided political support for the programme. Yet in spite of all these positive factors driving this bold initiative, the programme has produced only mixed results.
If all the funds allocated to the programme had been effectively used, we would not have thousands of people living in rickety tin shacks without toilets. We would not need a bucket toilet system to dispose of human waste and we would not have RDP houses with walls you can literally look through. Enough money has been allocated to provide all the citizens of Grahamstown with at least the very basic accommodation.
There are many explanations why the programme has not produced the desired results, but perhaps one of the most insidious reasons is linked to the game of pass-the-buck played between municipal, provincial and national officials.
An investigative reporter working in our newsroom has been following a trail in an attempt to find out who is to blame for the housing crisis in Makana. Why are the almost-new RDP houses falling apart? The answer is: everybody is blaming everybody else.
The first report based on her research is published on Page Three of this edition. On Tuesday, we expect to provide you with a closer look into what is really happening behind the RDP housing scene.
