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ZIWAPHI • VOL 4 NO 15 • 9-22 July 2010 

NELSPRUIT

The Mbombela local municipality in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga, has finally agreed to pay two service providers to deliver water and electricity to 20 RDP homes in Tekwane South.

This was confirmed on Wednesday, two weeks after African Eye News Service began investigating the home owners’ complaints about empty promises made by the municipality.

The families moved into their new houses about three months ago, only to find that no services had been installed.

“Those who had money paid Eskom for electricity and got connected. But others, like me, are still in the dark. We all still relieve ourselves in the bush. This area is close to the Mgwenya River, which is full of hippos and crocodiles,” said home owner Maria Nkosi.

She said the municipality had delivered only two bucket toilets for the whole community to share.

“Some people are sick, and it is too risky to share these toilets with them, especially for the children. At night it is pitch dark and hippos come out of the river to feed on our vegetable gardens,” she added.

Councillor Elvis Dludlu said the houses were built in January this year.

“The provincial government is responsible for building RDP houses, not the municipality. But to show our compassion, we tried our best as council and delivered them these homes. Those with money were told to pay for water and electricity connections, and those without were told to wait for a decision by the municipality,” he explained.

Municipality spokesman Joseph Ngala said a letter about the crisis in Tekwane South was given to the housing and property department a while ago, but it had not been brought to his attention.

“I have now seen the letter and have discussed it with the two service providers. We have issued an instruction to both of them to start working on the matter, and we will pay for every household connected,” Ngala promised.

He added that the community was part of an indigent group on the housing application list who the council would not charge for services.