GEORGE NEWS - Residents of the Protea Park squatter camp were over the moon when they received the keys to their first brick and mortar houses three days before Christmas, but were soon disillusioned when poor workmanship problems started surfacing.
Cllr Piet van der Hoven, who represents the ANC in Protea Park, said he has been approached by many of the residents who are extremely upset and disappointed with the state of affairs.
The soaking rain last week has further exposed the poor workmanship in many of the houses.
"I have met with some of the residents and took photos of the defects, which I shall forward to the Department of Human Settlements at the municipality," said Van der Hoven.
Eva Meverlot said moving into her own house after living in a shack for 18 years was a dream come true.
"My problem as a first-time homeowner is that I don't know how to deal with the teething problems of a new house and don't have the money to repair it myself."
The bathroom wall is skew, the hot water tap is loose, one of the electrical wall sockets doesn't work, all the taps are marked blue for cold water, and the outside globe fused after three days.
When her son changed the globe he found the fitting loose and secured with a piece of wood.
Meverlot was upset when an official arrived on the day they moved in with the "happy letter" asking her to sign that everything was in order.
"I refused to sign as there were lots of faults in the house." She contacted her ward councillor, Pieter Louw, who came and took photos of all the faults and said he would report the problems to the municipality, which he did.
Cornelius and Rachel Veldman in front of their front door that can't open.
Louw told her to be patient as the municipal staff were on holiday.
"It is now the end of January and no improvements had been effected. Last week the builders started half-heartedly repairing the faults.
"A municipal official in the housing department said the bathroom wall must be broken down and rebuilt, but today (Saturday 27 January) the builders are plastering the skew wall."
Two houses away, Rachel and Cornelius Veldman were overjoyed with the idea of spending Christmas in their new home but soon found out that it was not all plain sailing.
"When it rains, water comes through the aluminium window frames, wetting the floors.
"We can't open the front door and can only enter the house through the kitchen. Inside we are battling to open the bathroom door that is scraping on the floor."
In their case the municipality official told them not to sign the "happy letter".
Van der Hoven said the municipality must address the situation as a matter of urgency.
At the time of going to press, George Herald had not received a reply to our enquiry.
ARTICLE: MYRON RABINOWITZ, GEORGE HERALD JOURNALIST
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