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By: Mthubanzi Mniki

Great strides have been made by the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality to rectify poorly built RDP structures.

The NMBM through its housing rectifcation project has completed the rectifcation of 2 176 houses, and is targeting to complete the other 1 938 in the next fnancial year.

More than R170 million of a budget of R500 million allocated to the project has been spent so far. The rectifcation of RDP houses is a project by the Municipality to rectify shoddy workmanship that was done by housing contractors across the city.

Many of these houses that were rectifed were merely left unfnished, or had cracks in the walls, thus posing a risk to the homeowners and their families. While many of the houses were just rectifed, there were those houses that were so poorly built that they had to be rebuilt from scratch.

In KwaNoxolo, there are currently houses that are being rectifed, and when the Ubuntu Team arrived in the area, there were many pleased residents who could not contain their satisfaction with the rectifcation project.

Nomfaneleko Klaas, whose home was rebuilt, said she was relieved and happy that her home is fnally been fnished. “I am now living with my children and grandchildren in a safe house. Gone are the days where I would worry about the house caving in on us,” said Klaas.

Another homeowner, Sibulele Mbedla, whose home had cracks in the roof and in the walls, said his home was almost ready and

all that was left to do, was to ft a new tile roof.

“I can see now that it is quality work being done here. Now I will be a proud homeowner after a long time of living in a dangerous house that I wasn’t comfortable in,” said Mbedla.

Although Human Settlements Portfolio Chairperson, Cllr Fikile Desi, was pleased with the progress of the rectifcation project, he was quick to warn contractors that the time for shoddy workmanship was over.

Cllr Desi said it was unfortunate that the Municipality had to spend money on rectifying houses instead of spending the money on building new ones.

“We can no longer continue like this. This is a waste of tax payer’s money. We have now put stringent measures in place to monitor construction sites at all times to avoid spending money on rectifcation. This money is supposed to be building houses for people who have been on the waiting list for many years,” said Cllr Desi.

“We are holding construction companies accountable and going as far as to blacklist the culprits from our system. This is a stern warning to all contractors to be aware that we are putting an end to shoddy workmanship,” he said.

In the Nelson Mandela Bay region, the rectifcation project has been rolled out in Qaqawuli, Wells Estate, Tambo Village, Sakkiesdorp, Bethersdorp, Motherwell, Tjoks Village, Bloemendal South, Silvertown Limba, KwaZakhele and Railway Reserve.

The NMBM spends millions on the rectification of RDP homes because of shoddy workmanship, and with new quality control measures in place there is hope that in future the money can be spent to build more houses.

Human Settlements Portfolio Chairperson,

Cllr Fikile Desi

Homeowner, Sibulele Mbedla, waits patiently for his home to be complete after a team from the NMBM came to fx some problems caused by shoddy workmanship of housing contractors.

NEW MEASURES IN PLACE TO PREVENT RECTIFICATION OF HOUSES IN FUTURE

UBUNTU COMMUNITY MAGAZINE MARCH I APRIL 2012 23