Cape Town – A 75-year-old woman from the south of Johannesburg reportedly failed to move into her new RDP home this week after angry residents protested and blocked her from being handed the house.
The pensioner, Nonkululeko Nqulwana, was found living in her car earlier this year as she could no longer afford rent.
The Department of Human Settlements and Collen Mashwana Foundation had intended to hand over a new RPD home to her on Friday, reports said.
However, Savanna City residents disapproved of the move, claiming they had also been waiting for houses and would not allow a stranger to move into an RDP house before residents from the area, reported IOL.
The report said Nqulwana applied for a house in 1996 and had been renting until she could not afford it. She, therefore, moved into her car and lived there before moving into a shack in Orange farm.
The teary pensioner had to go back to her shack after the residents refused that she be moved up in the waiting list and be given a home.
Meanwhile, the Department of Human Settlement said it would have a meeting on Wednesday to discuss a way forward.
A report by Newzroom Africa earlier showed Nqulwana packing and getting ready for her new home.
The report said that human settlement authorities admitted there was a “blunder” in the process.
In an interview with the broadcaster, a human settlement representative said the department had treated Nqulwana’s situation as a special case and that was why the normal procedure of involving the area councillor and the community had not been followed, resulting in the residents getting angry.
Follow African Insider on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
Picture: Twitter/@ZikhonaTshona
For more African news visit, Africaninsider.com
Compiled by Olwethu Mpeshe
