Pensioner finally gets a home

Her dogged determination finally paid off for Martha Mahlangu, who received a home in Cosmo City after 16 years on the housing waiting list.
A SEPTUAGENARIAN pensioner, Martha Mahlangu, is now the exultant owner of her own home, on Botswana Crescent in Cosmo City.

Long wait for a house is over for Martha MahlanguLong wait for a house is over for Martha MahlanguThe 75-year-old had been homeless since her divorce in 1996, living in contemptible rented backyard dwellings, first in Doornkop in Soweto and then in Brixton. But her tireless efforts finally ensured that she received her house, after waiting for 16 years.

It was a sunny afternoon in Cosmo City on Sunday, 30 October, when the portfolio head of housing, Dan Bovu, handed over the house to Mahlangu. The unassuming woman was lost for words. “I have an intense feeling of wellbeing and excitement. God has answered my prayers,” she said, fighting back tears, her jubilation palpable.

Bovu said Mahlangu’s subsidised house had been approved in 1996 after her application was processed. She was allocated a property in Kliptown; however, because she didn’t have a stable address and was always moving about from one rented backyard room to another, efforts to trace her were unsuccessful and her house was given to another beneficiary.

But through her resoluteness, Mahlangu contacted the former mayor, Amos Masondo, who in turn contacted the presidential hotline, which then gave an instruction for her to receive the stand in Cosmo City.

Mahlangu said she was cheated by her employers, who retrenched her without a package or prior notice after she had been the family’s domestic worker for 35 years. She was left homeless, with little prospect of work, and food insecurity.

The condition of the backyard room she rented in Brixton was appalling, she said, adding that life was unpleasant.

Application
It was her constant pursuit of Masondo that ensured that she got respite after years of anguish. “We kept contact with Ntate Masondo and he would always keep me updated on the progress of the application. When I finally got a call from the City to say that I will be allocated a house, I felt a sigh of relief and have been jubilant since,” Mahlangu said.

Moving inMoving inWhile getting her house approved, she would walk from Garden City and Brixton to trace her house application at the municipal offices in Braamfontein. “It’s a miracle for me to finally have this house. I don’t have an appropriate expression for it. God loves me, and I am overjoyed,” she said.

“I have always kept hope.”

Her son, Phillip Mofokeng, said life had been dire for his family because he had lost his job and couldn’t help his mother with rent.

“It was horrible – that’s all I can say. My being unable to help my mother exacerbated our woes because we have been struggling to find or afford an adequate roof. But I am happy; I’m lost for words,” Mofokeng explained.

Bovu said it was the City’s aspiration to eliminate the backlog in the allocation of subsidised houses, especially for those who had been on the waiting list since 1996 and 1997.

“We are making strides in the allocation of houses and the eradication of informal settlements but the reality is that we are not going to eliminate the backlog of outstanding giveaway houses. That is why we are increasing our rental stock, especially in the inner city, so we can ease the tension of informal settlements and unplanned backyard dwellings.”

Bovu said the City encouraged the business of planned backyard dwellings, where homeowners built adequate backyard abodes and rented them out, but unplanned ones were discouraged “because they make our place not to look nice”.

“It makes us very happy if we are changing people’s lives and giving then hope,” Bovu said.