Twenty one military veterans who were previously destitute will soon be able to sleep in their newl furbished houses at Maiden Farm outside Mthatha in the Eastern Cape.
This is part of a multimillion project by the Department of Human Settlements to provide them with houses.
The department plans to build more than 5000 houses across the country.
In the O.R Tambo area 57 houses will be built.
Forty houses will be built in Mthatha and another 17 spread throughout O.R Tambo villages. These are no ordinary RDP houses.
They have special features. Some of the beneficiaries say they have waited for this for 23 years.
Beneficiary Mzwabantu Madyibi says: “I am happy. My children will have a place to call home. I was staying at my father’s house, now I have my own house.”
Another beneficiary Andile Mlonzi: “This house has changed my life 180 degrees. Before it, I was living with my sister’s and their children and I was occupying a single room with my children and spouse.”
The department acknowledges the handover of the houses has taken a long time. Two thousand houses have been handed over countrywide and more are in the pipeline.
Deputy minister of human settlements Zou Kota- Fredericks says: “We must remember we are handing over houses to people who sacrificed in the struggle, people who left their families at a very young age. A house itself is an asset we are creating assets for them. We understand that its military veterans it’s not only Umkhonto Wesizwe.”
MEC of Human Settlements Helen Sauls- August, “The issue of military veterans did not initiate initially when we had our democracy. There was a lot of talks, it was done adhoc basis in the Eastern Cape. We even started long before other provinces and there was a policy we had already prioritised, military veterans.”
The Department of Human Settlements in the province has urged military veterans to get their names onto the data base.
There is a separate project for those who are destitute.
