The right to adequate housing is enshrined in the constitution, yet for many South Africans it remains a pipe dream.
Mankazana Boboyi is 83 years old. She has been waiting to move from a shack into a house for three decades now.
Boboyi is one of more than 1,000 housing “beneficiaries” in the Buffalo City Metro whose RDP houses have allegedly been invaded by illegal occupiers.
She lives in a three-roomed shack in an informal settlement in Mdantsane.
Boboyi showed the Dispatch paperwork from the department of human settlements which stated that she owned an RDP home in Ilinge but that the house was occupied by unknown people.
The residents have since taken their fight to parliament, after reportedly receiving no joy from BCM or the provincial government.
For Boboyi and the rest of those whose houses have allegedly been “stolen”, it is about more than just a structure.
It is about finally getting what they say is rightfully theirs and having a chance at living a dignified life.
Many of them live in shacks, with no electricity or direct access to water.
Rainy days have their own set of challenges, including the threat of flooding and water seeping in through holes and gaps.
Sadly, some beneficiaries die before the chance of moving into their homes ever arrives. Boboyi says two of her neighbours suffered that fate.
BCM said it was aware of the issue and that verification processes were under way to confirm ownership.
The city had also applied for eviction orders from the courts.
Mankazana Boboyi has already waited 30 years. How much longer will she have to wait before this matter is resolved?
A BCM councillor interviewed by the Dispatch, however, had a different view.
She said that Ilinge residents would be given preference for houses in the community and that Boboyi would be placed “elsewhere”. It is unclear where exactly.
“One day their children will benefit even though it takes time,” the councillor said.
Boboyi has already waited 30 years. How much longer will she have to wait before this matter is resolved?
And is that piece of paper that Boboyi has been holding on to, which says that her house is in Ilinge, worthless?
Boboyi and the 1,050 affected beneficiaries deserve answers from the metro and the provincial government now about the status of their homes.
Access to decent housing is not a privilege, but a fundamental human right, one which these citizens are being denied every day.
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