Residents of Mshenxiswa Village, formerly known as the ‘Garden Site’ Housing Project in Zwelihle, celebrated when receiving their long-awaited homes from Overstrand Mayor Rudolph Smith and Western Cape Minister of Human Settlements Bonginkosi Madikizela on 7 February.
As part of a bigger project to upgrade seven informal settlements in Zwelihle, this housing development project consists of 58 high density units and cost R11 million. It is the first high density residential area in the Overstrand and it took 18 months to complete.
The new residents can at last call this 40m² house with open plan kitchen, two bedrooms, bathroom with a yard ‘home’.
Mr. Lusiba Mzwandile applied for a housing subsidy 30 years ago and today, at 71 years old, he became a homeowner for the very first time. “I feel blessed to have a proper roof over my head and to know it belongs to me,” Mzwandile said. He thanked everyone involved in the process for them to receive a house.
The elderly Wellington and wife Siyo Varoyi (64) could barely contain their joy when opening the door to their new home. Nolovile Manqeza (59), Van and wife Novusile Ndzule (58) and Mfundo and wife Alvet Sithetho (48) were delighted when they received the keys to their homes. They said it is a joyful day and they had been waiting for this day for a long time.
During his welcome address, Mayor Smith urged owners to “look after this newly built house by taking good care of it – it is now your property and you have to take responsibility for it.”
Mayor Smith asked the housing recipients not to sell their houses. “If you sell it, it will be a great loss to you and your future generation. I am pleased that the beneficiaries will now have a place that they can, with pride, call home. At long last, you and your children have a safe place to go to at night and you are not dependent on family and friends in times of bad weather.”
He also paid tribute to his predecessor Ald Nicolette Botha-Guthrie and thanked the Minister, councillors, ward committees, social compact committees, and community involved for their co-operation and all the work done thus far to improve the quality of life for these new residents.
‘House keys open up a variety of avenues to a better future’
In his keynote address Minister Madikizela said the current housing backlog for the Western Cape is huge – and growing – as more and more people come to this province for a better, safer life and the possibility of work opportunities.
“Given the budget, we will continue to make every effort to ensure that more housing opportunities are made available and allocated to the most deserving people first – but we have to ensure when allocating houses, that the correct people get them.