"Prioritise the elderly when issuing RDP houses" - Premier Mabuza
29 October 2012
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| Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza sits in front of a shack with Ms Annah Marakalala. | Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza gives R500 to Ms Annah Marakalala to buy some food |
Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza has called on municipal officials to prioritise the elderly and child-headed families when they issue government houses.
The Premier was shocked on Friday [26 October 2012]when he visited a number of the villages in the Dr J S Moroka and Thembisile Hani municipalities to discover many elderly people who were disadvantaged from getting government houses.
He said it was un-acceptable that the elderly people would even die before they could own their houses from the government they fought so hard for, because they do not have “connections” with government officials.
Most of the beneficiaries he identified were the elderly people whose shacks and mud-houses were sometimes surrounded by the government houses.
“I do not understand how come some destitute families are surrounded by RDP houses when their shacks could fall on them at any time. It raises many questions as to why they were left out when anybody can see that they deserved RDP houses.
“It looks like government houses have ‘eyes’. It is like they choose where they want to be built obviously at the expense of the deserving elderly impoverished people. Let us prioritise the deserving elderly instead of our friends and relatives,” said Mabuza.
The Premier visited a number of villages such as Phake, Mammetlhake, Seabe, Kwaggafontein, Tweefontein, Matimpule, Bundu and Siyabuswa amongst others.
During his visits, Mabuza identified 32 households that would get sponsored houses from his legacy project, “Kancane Kancane Changing Lives for the Better”.
The houses would be built and financially be supported by the country’s and Africa’s multinational mobile telecommunications company, MTN.
At Matimpule, the Premier met a blind and crippled 94-year old Ms Maria Santu who had lived in a shack for most of her life and committed to build a three bed-room house for her and her family.
He further organized a wheelchair, spectacles and a medical doctor to attend to her health before her house could be handed over to her.
While in Seabe in the Dr J S Moroka, Mabuza did not believe his eyes when he found a child-headed family whose elder youngster, a 26-year Annah Marakalala had six children from five fathers with no house and food.
Touched by their plight of poverty, the Premier could not hold his sadness but to donate R500 [Five hundred Rand] in order for them to buy food as the kids were weak from hunger.
Ms Marakalala said although five of her children received child-social grants from government, life was extremely difficult for them especially when it rained as they did not have a house and clothes.
“These people are exploiting poverty, it is here where we must come in as a provincial government and change their situation. As a government we are trying our best; however we are not fast enough mainly because of the lack of the resources.
“What I am doing here is but one creative way of intervening to speedily assist few citizens with the help of the kind business people. This initiative is gaining the momentum, many business people want to come on board because they see the need to improve the lives for the better.
“They understand that some social problems for our people are deep-seated and they come from far. I am doing this because I am driven by the desire to solve some problems for our people,” said Mabuza.
Through his initiative, the Premier has built more than 100 houses and the 32 households identified are expected to move in their homes in the next three weeks.
Issued by Zibonele Mncwango
Spokesperson: Mpumalanga Premier
Tel: (013) 766-2453
Mobile: 079 491 0163
E-mail: zmncwango@mpg.gov.za
