13/10/2001 22:25 - (SA)
Mayor slammed over poor-quality houses
Matefu Mokoena
THE EKANGALA District mayor has come under fire from residents of Delmas in Mpumalanga who accused him of shoddy workmanship after his housing company failed to complete free government-subsidised houses.
Residents of Delpark Extension 2 in Delmas recently took to the streets and marched to the Delmas Local Council with complaints against the housing company, Gomasakho cc, which is owned by the mayor, Simon S P D Skhosana.
He is also the chairperson of the local ANC branch.
Residents say Skhosana also has a conflict of interest in that he is both mayor and owner of a housing company which is contracted to build houses under the government's reconstruction and development programme.
Skhosana was awarded the building contract in Delpark Extension 2 and Botleng Extension 3 and 4 in September 1999 by the Delmas Transitional Local Council.
At the time he was already local ANC chairperson. He was deployed as Ekangala District mayor afterlocal government elections inDecember last year.
Surrounded by a trench of dirty, stinking water, which contains faeces, close to 500 houses in Delpark Extension 2 are incomplete and have become a nightmare for the owners.
Some houses have leaking water pipes, roofs, drains and toilets. Others have no window panes, doors and sewer pipes.
In some parts of the area, the drainage system cannot function properly, causing spillage of water and faeces into some of the houses, while in other areas there are no toilets, and residents are forced to walk for about 15 minutes to the veld to relieve themselves.
Community leader Slash Seepenyane said discussions had been held with Skhosana and the Delmas Local Council but they were reluctant to address the problems.
" These defects are a health risk to the community of Delpark Extension 2. It must also be borne in mind that each defect has its own negative impact to the community.
"Residents are told to dig for themselves to get the sewer connections before they can be connected to their toilets. Sewer pipes are leaking and some of us are using buckets to hold water from the leaks," said Seepenyane.
Seepenyane, who was the ANC councillor when the Delmas Transitional Local Council awarded Skhosana the contract, said he was disappointed by the shabby houses built for residents.
Skhosana claims the defects were not due to shoddy workmanship by his company but were caused by vandalism when residents refused to occupy their houses when they were finished last December.
He said his company had agreed, however, to rectify the defects at no cost.
Skhosana denied having a conflict of interest as he was awarded the contract before becoming mayor.
Delmas mayor Jubi Makhabane said residents' problems were being addressed by the steering committee, which includes all stakeholders in the Delpark Extension 2 project. He said they were alsohaving discussions with Gomasakho to see how they could deal with the problems.
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