From ashes to hope: Kekana family of 11 gets new home in Orlando West
The Kekana family’s days of living in a shack came to an end when the Department of Human Settlements recently handed over a newly rebuilt two-bedroom and fully-furnished house at Orlando West in Soweto.
The Kekana’s family house was gutted in fire last July.
The Minister of Human Settlements, Thembi Simelane, explained the department was informed about the 11-member family’s home situation through the Joburg municipality in October.
“We thank the City of Johannesburg team because they made the department aware of the Kekana’s terrible living conditions,” said Simelane.
While many of their neighbours enjoyed the luxury of living in a comfortable home, family representative, Nomsa Kekana, explained their lives had taken a horrifying shift in just two-minutes as they watched their home burn down to ashes.
“The fire started from something that seemed like sparks, and we tried to stop these sparks, but within two minutes the house was on fire,” said Kekana.
Kekana described that they had to endure living in a small space, inside a shack, which would be flooded during the heavy rains.
However, the spirit of Ubuntu touched the Orlando West community to donate building materials, clothes, and food for the Kekanas.
Kekana thanked one particular neighbour, Mr Xaba, who housed some of her family members.
“It was a difficult situation because we stayed in a shack, which was often drenched in rain. However, we are grateful for our neighbours such as Mr Xaba who helped us.
“Mr Xaba stayed with some of my family members. We also used to cook in his house, and some of our belongings were kept in his house when the first phase of the house was under construction.
“My family and I are over the moon because the house is finally complete. I would like to thank the department even though we always complain about poor service delivery. Today, we saw their efforts,” said Kekana.
The family was supposed to receive their new home before Christmas as the building project began in November.
However, construction was delayed due to inclement weather.
Construction of the house was through the partnership of the National Housing Finance Corporation (NHFC), the department, and other stakeholders.
“We requested the NHFC to come and build the house, which is a donation from them as one of our entities. We built a two bedroom house, taking into consideration that they lost almost everything,” said Simelane.
The NHFC CEO, Azola Mayekiso, stated the organisation spearheaded the project in response to the minister’s call to rebuild the house from the ground.
“The NHFC, as it under the department, came to do the initial assessments, which was a response to a call to action by the minister to come and rebuild this home from the ground,” said Mayekiso.
The MMC for Human Settlements in Johannesburg, Mlungisi Mabaso, attended the ceremony where he addressed the issue of housing in the province’s municipalities.
Mabaso revealed the city has been facing a housing backlog since 1996, which has challenged the local government to provide adequate housing for residents.
“We also need to talk to the system of applications, because there is high expectations from residents. We have a (housing) backlog that dates back to 1996.
“Some of these people who applied in 1996 don’t even know that their subsidy applications were rejected, which increases the backlog,” said Mabaso.
Gauteng MEC for Human Settlements Tasneem Motara echoed the MMC’s words, highlighting the pressing need for adequate housing in the province including its metros.
Mabaso said the Joburg municipality human settlement cluster will launch a property education programme that aims to teach the public about protecting their properties.
The programme will commence next month at Orlando.
The Star
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