Pretoria - Mamelodi residents watched in despair when heavy rains flooded some houses through leaking roofs on Thursday.
They bemoaned government promises to replace the asbestos roofing with corrugated iron ones after their roofs were damaged by a hailstorm in 2013. Damage done to asbestos roofs, windows, solar geysers, cars and household items was estimated at R100 million.
During the door-to-door campaign before the 2014 general elections, President Jacob Zuma promised that houses would be fixed in 10 days. But resident Pauline Makhubela of Khalambazo section said she had lost hope that her house would ever be repaired.
Rainwater was leaking through the asbestos roof, dripping into buckets she had put in her bedroom and kitchen.
She didn’t want more rain to damage her other furniture after it had damaged her wooden wardrobe. Her rooftop was still covered with old black plastic sheets, which were handed out by the City of Tshwane three years ago.
“I am intending to buy plastic sheets this month-end because the old ones can't prevent water from passing through the roof anymore,” she said.
Another resident, Dikeledi Maudi, was also facing the same predicament because of the rainy weather. Like Makhubela, she had put a steel basin on her bed to make sure water coming through her roof was dripping into it.
“I am not going to vote because I am disappointed at the government,” she said.
Gladys Nhlapo, another storm victim, always harboured fears that another hailstorm might hit her house again every time it looked like rain was coming. A pensioner, Nhlapo wants her house repaired, but she can't afford the cost because she is unemployed. Out of desperation, she patched gaping holes on her roof with paint and silicone.
“I am afraid that should the rains persist they might erode the paint. But there is nothing more I can do about the situation,” she said.
Five months ago, the affected families spoke about their frustrations after a long wait for the authorities to repair their roofs.
Former Gauteng Human Settlements MEC Jacob Mamabolo promised to visit the affected households, but he never did. He said the department was reviewing reports on financial and non-financial performance and would release a final report and way forward thereafter.
A hundred houses were identified for repairs in the Khalambazo section in Mamelodi, but only 28 of them had their roofs replaced by the end of March last year. Pinky Pilusa, community liaison officer, said the situation had not changed.
In White City section, residents said there were 150 storm-hit houses, but only 23 had been fixed. The violent hailstorm also caused damage in Soshanguve, but houses there had been repaired. A resident, Thokozile Shaba, who has lived in Mamelodi since the 1960s, had some steel poles delivered at her house.
She recalled the day the storm opened gaping holes in her roof: “I was watching television with my grandchildren when the torrent began. It was as if it was a tornado.” Her meagre monthly pension was not enough to help refurbish her home, she said.
Gugu Phiri said most of the houses in Ward 23 were affected, but they remained unfixed. She was employed as the community liaison officer in the project to repair roofs. “I am now tired of answering questions from residents who constantly want to know when their houses will be fixed,” she said.
Since the project was stopped she said she has not heard a word from government. “Most people never went to register to vote during the voters' registration weekend on March 5 to 6 because they are still disappointed by the government's empty promises,” she said.
Human settlement department spokesman Keith Khoza failed to reply to media enquiries on why some houses hadn't been repaired.
Pretoria News