ANGRY CYFERSKUIL RESIDENTS STOPS THE NORTH WEST HOUSING PROJECT
The residents of Cyferskuil in the North West of South Africa has interrupted the construction of the 100 homes.
The protest was held because of the way the houses were allocated. The residents stipulated that the buildings were shared excluding the poor in the community.
The residents stopped the construction just after the foundation preventing the workers to access the site. The protest resulted to a meeting between the residents and the Mayor Andries Monageng where the concerns where listed and given to the Mayor. The meeting ended in chaos after the Mayor left with the list without signing or reading the it.
“We have decided not to allow the construction of the houses to continue until this matter is resolved. It is turning community members against each other. “We welcome the RDP houses but our problem is that there are many poor people who really need and deserve them who were left out. There are residents who can afford to build their own houses who are also receiving RDPs,” said the community leader Jan Motshegwa.
Mr Motshegwa added that there are elderly residents who cared for orphans in the community relying on monthly social grants. “They deserve the RDP houses” he said.
Meanwhile one of the benefactors Makie Sesana who was happy about owning a house is unemployed with two children and lives in a one-room shack.
“See how they left my yard. I don’t know if I should fill these trenches or wait and see if they will return,” she said. “I moved my shack to create space [for them to build]. In the process some of the corrugated sheets were damaged. I was not worried about the damaged sheets because I thought I won’t need them anymore,” she said.
The spokesman to the Moretele Local district Mothupi Malebye said the residents has been briefed that only 100 houses can be afforded by the district in Cyferskuil.
“There are many other villages in Moretele that we also need houses. This is why for now only 100 houses were allocated to this village. We were trying to explain this to residents at the meeting, which unfortunately degenerated into violence,” said the spokesma.
Hence with the ongoing issues there is no clear date as for the construction will resume.