A man expresses joy over RDP house

Sibusiso Ndlovu Wisani Village- In 1994, government introduced the Reconstruction and development Programme (RDP) which aims at building houses for people who earns R1, 500- R3, 500 per month. More than two million houses have been built since 1994, according to Census 2011 report around 2 to 3 million South African households still are need of housing. The Department of Human Settlement aims to build 220, 000 housing units per year, in the period 2010 to 2011 the department has only managed to build 121, 879 units. While housing remains a problem in South Africa a 73- year- old man Boyi Phala from Wisani village, who has been living in the area for the past 52- years without a proper house, was granted an RDP home last week. Boyi has three children who are depending on his old age grant which is R1, 220 per month. He raised his children in a small shark. In 2003, he decided to leave the place together with his family to stay with his relative in Belfast. In 2011, Boyi came back to the village to apply for the RDP house, one year later after the application of the house he was told that his house is on the list and that is ready to be constructed. Xap Xap news visited Boyi on Sunday, 24, November. The house was almost complete except for the roofing. “It’s unfortunate that I spend most of my live struggle to find a proper place that I can settle in and enjoy life like other people, I thank god that at last I have a proper house to stay”, said Boyi. What makes it difficult for people like Phala to get RDP houses is corruption and lack of proper administration by the officials involved as a result of this some of the houses are allocated to people who are not suppose to get it, some of these people counterfeiter their document so that they can easily get these houses after getting it they sell it at a low-price.