In the long queue to receive government housing, those who have benefitted most are those who were last in line.
Since 1994, the size and features of government-subsidised housing have improved considerably thanks to an increase in real terms of the subsidy that can be allocated to home building.
In the long queue to receive government housing, those who have benefitted most are those who were last in line.
Since 1994, the size and features of government-subsidised housing have improved considerably thanks to an increase in real terms of the subsidy that can be allocated to home building.
According to Kasei Nxamleko, Makana head of housing, the subsidy for a house in 1995 stood at approximately R15 000.
For this amount, those allocated housing in that year would have received a two-room house with outside toilet and sheet roofing.
Many of these houses have not weathered the last fifteen years well, with many that were constructed in Extension 8 showing severe cracks in the roofs and walls.
Some residents complain that there have been no repairs by the municipality in the years since. “You must do it yourself,” explains Debrah Malakane, a resident of the area sharing her house with two daughters and four grandchildren.
The walls have began to crumble around the doorframe of her house, forcing the family to stuff the gaps with old clothing and mud to keep the winter cold out.
Those with houses built later have fared slightly better, thanks to an increase in the government housing subsidy.
Houses in Vukani, part of a 2003 housing development, feature two main rooms with a walled-off indoor toilet and slight larger floor space.
Despite these benefits, many of the houses in Vukani still show structural problems, with cracking ceilings and sagging doorframes.
The most fortunate have been the residents who have applied for RDP housing fairly recently. A recent housing development in the Transit Camp section of Joza is seeing the erection of even larger houses than in previous projects.
Each unit has three rooms plus a bathroom, ceramic tile roof and wooden window frames. Resembling a townhouse development project more closely than the RDP houses of years past, the provision of these improved housing units has been made possible through an increase in the government housing grant over recent years to approximately R54 000 in 2010.
For those first in the housing queue, it’s not all doom and gloom in the long term however. National and provincial government departments have been taking the issue of housing rectification increasingly seriously over the last two years.
According to Yeukai Mukorombindo, housing researcher at the Public Service Accountability Monitor at Rhodes University, this is in recognition of the extensive need for rectification of houses built in earlier housing projects.
