House razed by Red Ants rises

ALFRED and his wife Constance Mhlahla of Atteridgeville yesterday finally took their first steps into their new three-bedroom house, which replaced the one illegally demolished by the Red Ants five years ago.

They had been living in a shack since December 2017. On the day, the Pretoria West sheriff arrived at the informal settlement with a court eviction order and the Red Ants, who demolished the family’s house as the eviction notice stated that the people had settled there illegally.

However, the family’s home should not have been demolished – they had documents to prove they had been relocated to the area from Brazzaville informal settlement, which was dolomitic, and had just finished building a five-room house.

The couple’s daughter, Lindiwe Toheed, had used her last savings and borrowed money from her employer to build a house for her parents and her two children under their care.

Yesterday, she welcomed the new house donated to the family by M Kona Consulting Engineers and Allco Development, that partnered with the Gauteng Department of Settlements, Urban Planning and the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs to rectify the mistake.

It was the culmination of a battle which included intervention by Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane.

However, MEC Lebogang Maile said the department had actually launched an internal investigation in April this year, which found that the family’s home was illegally demolished. The head of the department had already given authorisation for the family to receive an RDP house.

Fortunately, he said, the private sector came in the form of M Kona

Consulting Engineers and Allco Development that volunteered to partner with the government and spent more than R350 000 to build the family a house bigger than an RDP house. Construction started in July.

Maile said he did not wish to go into the details of “who did what and who should have not done something”, but to take accountability as a servant of the government, and he apologised unreservedly.

He also extended gratitude to the company “that raised its hand to say it will not just be in business with the government but it would also assist where it could”, he said.

Mbulelo Kona said: “As the donor, we are pleased to have been able to do something like this because we were touched by their story and thought why should we fold our hands if we can do something? I want to thank the family for their co-operation and the department to make all of this possible.

“A house is a life time investment and I hope we have assisted mama and her family to have their dignity back. We made the pledge in July and I am happy this was possible and we brought a roof over their heads.”