Gauteng applicant waits 29 years for an RDP house as housing register passes a million
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Rosinah Nketu registered for a government house in 1997 and is still in a backyard shack, while Gauteng's housing needs register carries more than 1.13 million names and the province says it cannot set an allocation timeframe.
A 61-year-old Gauteng applicant who registered for a government-subsidised house in 1997 is still living in a backyard shack with her eldest child and grandchildren, as long-standing applicants demand answers from the provincial human settlements department.
Rosinah Nketu said she registered in 1997 while living in Soweto and has spent years travelling to housing offices in Diepkloof, Sauer Street and Fox Street, paying transport costs and returning without answers. She said she shares the shack with her family and has no privacy. The Gauteng Department of Human Settlements confirmed that she registered her housing need on 29 July 1997 and has never benefited from the government housing subsidy, but said it is not in a position to set a timeframe for allocations.
The department said housing needs are recorded on the National Housing Needs Register, a digital system used across Gauteng's five regions and municipal housing offices: 1,135,790 people had registered for government-subsidised housing in the province, including 446,103 applicants in Johannesburg and 183,047 in Soweto. The Housing Subsidy System, which tests income and affordability, recorded 299,909 approved applicants across Gauteng, including 95,676 in Johannesburg and 38,734 in Soweto. The department said it was working with the City of Johannesburg to prioritise elderly applicants and people with disabilities who registered between 1996 and 2000.
Umphakathi Warona Wethu, a civic organisation representing long-standing applicants, has been protesting at housing offices to demand answers, and its leaders allege they have been barred from entering departmental offices. Leader Thabang Moloi said the organisation had evidence of people who applied for RDP houses as far back as 1996, including one applicant now aged 96, and questioned why people who had waited nearly three decades remained without homes while newer applicants had reportedly received houses in Fleurhof, Lufhereng, Jabulani and Goudrand. He said more than 800 people had died while waiting.
In April, more than 300 people, including elderly applicants and relatives of deceased residents, camped outside Johannesburg housing offices to demand homes they said they had applied for in 1996. Residents from Soweto, Alexandra, Thembisa and Orange Farm said repeated visits to housing offices had failed to secure allocations or clear answers.