On Wednesday, 23 March 2022, the DA conducted an oversight inspection at Emona Sunhill and Umbhayi housing projects in Tongaat. The visits revealed some shocking realities on the status of these housing projects. See pictures here, here, here
In Emona, the housing project was supposed to have built 1 200 homes but only 250 have been built. Out of the 250, 20 are supposed to be occupied by the elderly and the disabled. However, in these 20 houses, only one is occupied by a disabled person.
We also discovered that electricity has not been connected to these homes in the past 3 years, which lead to illegal connections.
The results of illegal connections have been fatal. Last year, a house burnt down and left one person dead.
Another block of flats does not have a drainage system which leads to water flooding into the flats.
Other houses were invaded whilst families were still on the housing list, waiting to be allocated to the homes. It is alleged by the community that some ANC members are forcefully putting people of their choosing into the flats, ignoring the existing housing list.
In Umbhayi, the housing project was started in 2019 but has not been finished and the homes remain unoccupied. We have also called for a report on the construction of the retaining wall in this area as it looks like an accident waiting to happen.
The DA has been constantly been writing to housing officials in the municipality to request a transparent housing waiting list. We will now be writing to the Deputy Mayor who is also the Chairperson of the Human Settlements and Infrastructure Committee, Councillor Philani Mavundla, to request the Committee to conduct an urgent oversight in this area.
People of Emona and Umbhayi deserve better. As the DA, we are going to continue to monitor developments in this area to ensure that people are not short-changed and are provided proper housing.
The ANC government has consistently treated people like second class citizens and these stalled projects are further proof of this.