The management of the Makhado Municipality could not shed any light on the demolishing of RDP houses in Tshikota.

In the area east of the Dutch Reformed Church in Tshikota, about 80 RDP houses had been erected and left unfinished at about roof height for many months. A resident of Tshikota brought the matter to the attention of Mr Herman Smith of the Soutpansberg Ratepayers Association at the beginning of the year.

When Smith visited the area recently, he was surprised to see that all the houses had been levelled to the ground by a bulldozer. On site, workers told Smith that the cement that was used was of inferior quality and the houses had to be demolished.

At a meeting of the SRPA with the municipal manager and directors of the Makhado Municipality on June 4 at the Soutpansberg Golf Club, the issue of the demolishing of the houses was raised.

The director of technical services, Mr Thivho Ralulimi, said that they did not have the facts and that they were not aware of the conditions of the demolishing. The municipal manager, Mr Shadrack Tshikalange, said that they would get those facts.

At the same time, the SRPA raised the issue of 100 houses appearing on the IDP. Ms Sinthumule of the municipality said that the list which the Department of Local Government and Housing had supplied to the municipality, “was short of 100 houses. We wrote the report-back and added the particular 100 houses , so it is in the IDP, but the budget is done by the department,” Sinthumule said. On the demolishing of the houses, Sinthumule said, “I cannot account for something which I do not know anything about.”