Unsafe houses torn down — eThekwini Online
DOWN IT COMES: Housing MEC Mike Mabuyakhulu and Deputy Mayor Logie Naidoo bring down one of the death traps. Picture: Bonga Msimang
By Vernon Mchunu
Deputy Mayor Logie Naidoo lent a hand when a piece of inadequate planning was destroyed in a project that promises Cato Manor residents safer homes. In a symbolic gesture, Naidoo hammered down one of the houses that has gained notoriety as a “house of death” due to the fact that the walls were fitted with wire.
The wire was meant to strengthen the walls http://www.robustkits.com/.
However, it had put the residents in danger of electrocution. On Sunday, Naidoo and provincial housing MEC Mike Mabuyakhulu laid the foundation for “a fresh start”. The rectification programme is led by the provincial housing department and supported by the eThekwini Municipality.
Naidoo said knocking down the wire-wall houses marked the beginning of the R20 million roll-out of an extensive programme that would see the houses demolished and safer units constructed.
It is widely argued that even though the houses were built between 1996 and 1999, the actual planning and design had been done prior to the advent of democracy in 1994. The fact that residents would require an electricity supply had not been taken into consideration, said local resident Happiness Shange, whose house was the first to go down.
At least 100 houses are to be demolished as part of the project, which is expected to be complete by the end of July.
Mabuyakhulu said the new houses would be built using bricks, mortar and plastered walls, with appropriate electrical connections. The wire-wall technology had not lived up to the government’s expectations and had instead created a situation in which houses became life-threatening, he said.
Government now has a show village where all new technologies are tested before being implemented.