South Africa: RDP Housing Discrepancy Leaves Woman in Shack

The house is marked complete on housing system, but it has no roof Emily Lepota, 62, has lived in a two-roomed shack for 16 years, despite being granted an RDP house. The Housing Subsidy System shows that Lepota's house is complete and was handed over to her. But when GroundUp visited Lepota, in Morolong, east of Bloemfontein, we found the house half-built, without windows or a roof. Follow us on WhatsApp | LinkedIn for the latest headlines In 2009, Lepota's original house was destroyed when a mini tornado tore through the area. The Free State Department of Human Settlements launched a housing project to replace the damaged houses, including Lepota's. Lepota says construction started in 2011, but was never finished. "The house has been standing like this since 2012. The contractor, who I only knew as Mr Tshabalala, did not complete the house. He told me there is no money anymore to continue," Lepota said. This housing project was launched at the height of corruption in the provincial housing department. Officials were later found to have paid millions to suppliers before any building had started. The Zondo Commission found that this scheme was unlawful and called the R1-billion housing drive a "dismal failure". The department's head at the time was later convicted of corruption. The corruption and mismanagement left at least 20,000 houses unfinished. Many more houses might be unfinished but are marked as complete on the system, like Lepota's. Lepota shares her shack with seven people. "Life in this shack is hard. During rain, water comes through the roof and we cannot sleep," she said. No-one in the household is formally employed. Her daughter does odd jobs. The household's main income is social grants: her old age grant, her grandchild's child support grant, and her son's Social Relief of Distress grant. The family shares a communal standpipe in the yard and uses a pit toilet. "The system says the house was completed on the 04 Dec 2009," said department spokesperson Zimasa Mbewu. She said the house is not on the list of incomplete houses. Mbewu said that about 450 incomplete houses were completed in the 2025/26 financial year, and 532 are set to be completed this year. In a follow-up conversation with GroundUp, Mbewu said officials had visited Lepota's house and promised that she would not be left out. Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy . We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. "I just want a proper house for my children and grandchildren before I die," said Lepota. Read the original article on GroundUp . AllAfrica publishes around 600 reports a day from more than 90 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals , representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica . To address comments or complaints, please Contact us . AllAfrica is a voice of, by and about Africa - aggregating, producing and distributing 600 news and information items daily from over 90 African news organizations and our own reporters to an African and global public. We operate from Cape Town, Dakar, Abuja, Johannesburg, Nairobi and Washington DC. Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy . We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. There was a problem processing your submission.