LEBOGANG SEALE
PORTIA Sontangane is tired of living in an overcrowded and dilapidated hostel without proper sanitation.
For five years, she, her partner and seven-year-old son endured sharing a tiny kitchen, bathroom and toilet with six other families – crammed in a seven-room hostel in the Jabulani hostel.
It was in these dingy, train-like rows of dreary structures that her two children – now aged three years and two months – were born.
Yesterday, Sontangane’s face glowed as Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale and Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane unveiled phase 1 of the multimillion-rand Jabulani housing project. The three-storey-high apartments have been towering over the hostel since last year.
The estimated R487 million project comprises 1 919 subsidised rent-to-buy units and RDP houses. The units are meant for people whose wages are deemed too high or too low to qualify for a subsidy.
The symbolic cutting of the ribbon and unveiling of the plaque was the first real gesture towards the realisation of the hostel dwellers’ dream to own some property and a place they can call home.
“Life has been too hard. The only rooms we live in is a bedroom, kitchen and bathroom. Now I will have a whole bedroom to myself and a separate one for the kids. Plus our own kitchen and bathroom. I guess I must start thinking about getting a nanny,” quipped Sontangane, who works at the building site.
Moving into an RDP house will also enable the family to use their own bathroom.
It had become custom for men to bar women from using the bathrooms, claiming that they affected their physical strength because of the muti they use.
“We just bathe in big dishes (bath tubs). My children keep asking me, saying ‘Mommy, when are we moving into the flats?’ Sometimes I lie to them and say ‘next week’ or ‘next month’ just to satisfy them. I am desperate (to move in),” said Sontangane, who registered for an RDP house in 2008.
The beneficiaries are expected to start occupying their houses from the end of May.
The units are conveniently located near a shopping mall, police station, fire station and hospital that are nearing completion.
Equally thrilled was Zodwa Shange, 32, who will be moving into a five-room rent-to-buy apartment. She will pay R750 a month rent, which excludes water and electricity charges.
“I have suffered a lot, but life will soon be better. I can’t wait,” she said.
However, Nomvula Kunene was a bit envious yesterday. The part of the hostel she resides in is located at the far end and it will take some months before it is demolished to make way for the housing units.
“They haven’t told us when they will start. We are the unlucky ones, so we just have to wait. I feel sad.”