The Office of the Public Protector will very soon began to investigate maladministration, abuse of power and undue delay in the construction of the 170 housing units allocated to residents of Tshikota during the 2005/6 financial year by the provincial Department of Local Government and Housing.

After a series of fruitless meetings with their ward councilor, Cllr Gideon Ntshauba, ward committee members and representatives from the Makhado Municipality, residents of Tshikota approached the South African Human Rights Commission, the Civil Society Advocacy Programme and the office of the Public Protector to act as a referee in solving their problems.

According to the organising secretary of Sanco at Tshikota, Pastor T Mashau, the department of Local Government and Housing in 2005/6 allocated 200 RDP houses, but 30 units were allocated to other beneficiaries in Buysdorp. Mashau claimed that the municipality offered them a site adjacent to the town of Louis Trichardt. "A few months after the project was started by Areageng Developers, the very same municipality stopped the project without informing or consulting the beneficiaries and the community. Through our investigations, we discovered that certain residents in town were against the construction of RDP houses next to them as these might reduce the value of their houses," he said.

Pastor Mashau added that after several more meetings, a new site was given by the municipality and the project was scheduled to start in April this year, but up to the present, nothing has been done. "After being moved away from the first site, we felt insulted and neglected and we were not aware that the poor are not allowed to stay next to those who are fortunate in life," he said. Mashau said that the official statement they received from the municipality was that when they were given the first site it was discovered later that it was meant for middle-class houses.

In May 11 this year, the Sanco leadership went to the office of the Director General at the Department of Local Government and Housing to submit a document containing their concerns and frustrations.

"We are still waiting for the ´immediate response´ from the department. We don´t believe the ANC-led government has no capacity, but its people on the ground level are the ones causing frustrations. We gave the ruling ANC 86% during elections, but certain people want to create a situation wherein it is like we dug a dungeon to bury ourselves alive, " he said.

Last Sunday, community members handed over a memorandum to the staff member from the Office of the Public Protector, Mr Stanley Mhinga, during the gathering held at the township community hall.

Ms Mankese Thema from the South African Human Rights Commission said: "We came here to alert people about their rights, responsibilities and limitations because we know that, if people know their rights, nobody can take advantage of them. Hopefully, we are going to do something since we discovered that residents are faced with the challenges of housing and IDs,"

Mr Mhinga said that they attended the gathering with the view of popularising their office with the people, but since people showed to be disgruntled by poor service delivery by their municipality, they will investigate maladministration and undue delay with regard to service delivery as they normally do in other government institutions, including municipalities.

In conclusion, Mashau said: "The office of the Public Protector is our last hope. If no assistance will be given to us, we are going to embark on uncontrollable mass action at the offices of the MEC of Local Government and Housing, Ms Maite Nkoana Mashabane," he said.

The council spokesman, Mr Ntsieni Peter Magwala, confirmed that the project was erroneously given a site which was already meant for middle-class houses. "I don´t know, but the last time I heard that the project was being delayed because the developer was at loggerheads with the department," he said.