Nokuzola Mhlakazamvo, from Mfuleni, silently wept tears of gratitude and joy as her four-room RDP house was finally completed and painted, thanks to the Ward 108 Business Forum, which responded to her emotional plea for help.
When the contractors employed by the housing project she was affiliated to started building her house in 2004 she was excited about having a better place to stay.
However, it was not long before the contractors left the site, leaving her house without a roof, windows, doors, ceiling, water and electricity – and the plastering was not completed.
But last week, things changed for better for Ms Mhlakazamvo when the work on her house was finished and it was painted inside and out after the business forum asked several businesses to help the family.
Ms Mhlakazamvo said she had no idea why the contractors stopped building her house and she had never received a detailed response from the housing project as well. Instead, she said, her housing project had transferred her to another one which had built the roof and plastered the inside walls before leaving.
The unemployed mother of three said since 2004 her house had been standing unfinished while other people’s houses had been completed.
Ms Mhlakazamvo said that all these years she had been pleading with the local leaders to help her complete her house so that she could move in.
Ms Mhlakazamvo said she had been sharing her one-room shack with her three children in a nearby area where the living conditions were not ideal.
However, when community leaders in the area visited her house and assured her that they would do everything in their power to complete her house some time ago, it felt as if a heavy burden on her shoulders had been lifted.
Within a week her house was completed.
“I have no words to precisely describe how I feel. My daily prayers of having my house fixed have finally been answered.
“Every time I saw my house standing uncompleted I would just cry because if I had the means I would have completed my house long time ago.
“I’m very grateful to everyone who has played a part in making my house feel like a home. I always feared that I will die before seeing my house being completed,” she said.
Siya Dulaze, the Ward 108 Business Forum’s treasurer, said the structure had been established in 2016 to unearth business opportunities and bring development to the area.
After being alerted to Ms Mhlakazamvo’s plight, he said, they had felt complelled to intervene and assist her, he said.