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Families finally have proper roofs over their heads, following a speedy building project that used prisoners and members of the community to the greater good.
MMC for housing, Strike Ralegoma and deputy minister of correctional services, Loretta Jacobus give Johanna Mahlangu keys to her new house
JOHANNA MAHLANGU will never forget her euphoria the day she knelt humbly to accept the key to her newly built two-bedroom house. Gogo Mahlangu, Vincent Razo Mashaba and his wife will remember Friday, 30 May as the day "God finally answered our prayers".
As part of Region G's frenzied Housing Week, hosted in Poortjie - a remote township on the southern periphery of the city - about 10 houses were built in a week.
The project was the result of a concerted effort by the City of Johannesburg's housing department and workers from its municipal-owned entities, the Department of Correctional Services at Leeukop Prison, sponsorship from 14 private companies and members of the local community.
During the week, 120 people were roped in to help speed up construction, among them some 30 Leeukop prisoners. Although 10 houses were built, only two were handed over to beneficiaries because construction was fully finished.
The build was part of the City's Letsema Housing Project, a partnership in which members of the local community and volunteers from various City departments join forces to build RDP houses over five days.
Region G's Housing Week started on Monday, 26 May; on Friday, 30 May the houses were officially handed over to beneficiaries.
Speaking at the ceremony, the member of the mayoral committee for housing, Strike Ralegoma, noted that the houses symbolised "so much" to the beneficiaries. These houses were not just about having shelter, they were a basic need.
"[They] are also about reinforcing people's self-esteem and providing them with a property as an asset," he said.
The houses have plastered walls, floor tiles and proper sanitation.
Having lived with his small family in a corrugated iron shack for more than a decade, Mashaba had every reason to celebrate. He told Ralegoma that he was "very" grateful.
"We are very happy as a family and as a community." He said that the project epitomised the success of service delivery.
Mashaba was also grateful to the inmates at Leeukop Prison, "for having shown us love and respect". He wished them well as "they have given us something worth treasuring".
Bigger house
At 45m², the 10 houses are bigger than the average RDP houses, which are about 36m² in size. When construction is finished completely, they will also have ceilings and décor.
An elated Johanna Mahlangu opens the door to her new home
Mashaba said that they families had woken early on Friday morning, before sun up, to prepare for the special day. The only thing that the ailing Gogo Mahlangu could say after receiving the key to her first house was, "I am grateful to God," with a big smile on her face.
Through the project, the City wanted to acknowledge senior citizens, the ailing and vulnerable as active participants in their communities, "whose needs must be catered for and recognised by the government and their fellow residents", Ralegoma explained.
He said that Poortjie's housing week was just the start of extensive housing construction that would take place in the area over the next two financial years; in all, more than 2 000 houses would be built.
Also at the handing over ceremony was the deputy minister of correctional services, Loretta Jacobus, who said that her department's partnership with the City was an example of an ideal balance of integrated service delivery "in action".
Rehabilitation
The project reflected her department's core mandate and the broader government's war against poverty and underdevelopment. "Our core business as Correctional Services is to ensure public safety through safe custody, rehabilitation and social re-integration of offenders," she told the community, advising them to welcome into the community offenders who had served their prison terms and had been released.
Jacobus said that the housing week had laid a solid foundation in efforts to forgive and reconcile prisoners with their "safer communities".
"While this housing project will go a long way in providing shelter and warmth to their new owners, it also showcases best practices in terms of co-operative governance, restorative justice, giving back and demonstrating that hands that hurt should also be the hands that heal," she explained.
The 30 inmates who helped to build the houses, were now favourites in the community, which they say, "had shown us love". They received certificates of acknowledgement for their contribution.
"Through initiatives such as the building of houses, Correctional Services hits two birds with one stone." The project had helped the department to promote correction and rehabilitation, and reconciliation and forgiveness between criminals and victims of crime and violence.
"The government is indeed doing all in its power to facilitate the development of our communities, and this official handover of houses is one in a series of such interventions," she affirmed.
South Africa spent billions of rand each year to manage over 160 000 prisoners.
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