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'This is the happiest moment of my life' - an emotional resident of Ivory Park finally gets her own home, after years spent in a shack.
Almost there: 70-year-old Martha Matseka will soon be the proud owner of a two-bedroomed house
IVORY PARK township, in the northeast of Johannesburg, is being transformed from an informal settlement replete with shacks to a place where residents boast of decent, formal houses - all thanks to efforts by the City of Johannesburg's Letsema projects.
Selina Skhosana and Martha Matseka are just two of the township's residents who are benefiting from the Partnership Build, a project in which the City's housing department partners with provincial and national government to build houses for pensioners, people with disabilities and child-headed households. The houses are built in five days.
The two unemployed women, together with nine other families, will today get the keys to their new houses at a ceremony attended by the mayoral committee member for housing, Strike Ralegoma.
"The Partnership Build project is a new concept from our department," explains Onica Mathebula, a project manager in the City's housing department. "The first project was in Diepsloot in 2007, where we managed to build 10 houses. This is our second project under the same scheme."
Her department is running three programmes under the Letsema banner - Housing Week, also introduced in 2007; Partnership Build; and Letsema.
"The Letsema project involves the City's housing department only, while Housing Week is facilitated by City regions," she says.
Contributions
A volunteer puts the final touches to one of the houses being built in Ivory Park
Partners contribute in various ways in Partnership Build. They supply building material like cement, and provide promotional items such as T-shirts, caps and work suits. The City provides land.
Volunteers from housing departments in the City, province and national government play a crucial role in building the houses, Mathebula explains.
About 200 volunteers participate. "Residents are also hooked in to help in mortar mixing, cooking and doing various chores to ensure the smooth running of the project."
Beneficiaries are chosen from set criteria. "For people to qualify for assistance from the project, they have to have applied and qualified for a government subsidy, should either be indigent, aged, disabled, single parents with dependents, or should be child-headed families," she says.
Final touches
Selina Skhosana's old shack will be replaced by a brand new house
Construction of the 11 houses started on Monday, 28 January and on Thursday, 31 January, they were at roof level; builders at Skhosana's two-bedroomed house were putting the final touches to the walls and floor.
"This is the happiest moment of my life," said the 57-year-old woman, tidying up her yard in Emfuleni Section. "I have been waiting for this moment since 1991 and finally I will own a decent house."
A few blocks away, 70-year-old widow Matseka has also been waiting for a house since she moved to Ivory Park from Mpumalanga in 1991. She has been living with her three children in a one-roomed shack that was cramped and "very uncomfortable".
"I can't believe I will finally have a bathroom right inside my house. These communal toilets that we use are not good and I am glad my family will have privacy when we move into the new house."
Matseka was full of praise for the builders; she could not believe the house would be completed in five days. "All this is thanks to the hard work of these people. I also thank God," she said, visibly emotional.
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