SOUTH AFRICA: Women volunteers in South Africa build 22 low-cost homes in just 16 days

Record ID: 452596

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA: Women volunteers in South Africa build 22 low-cost homes in just 16 days
  • Date: 21st August 2007
  • Summary: (AD1) CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA (AUGUST 16, 2007) (REUTERS) VIEW OF NEWLY CONSTRUCTED HOUSE GOGO NONDALISEKO MPENDU OPENS THE DOOR TO HER NEW HOUSE ASSISTED BY SISULU (SOUNDBITE) (English) NEW HOME OWNER, GOGO NONDALISEKO MPENDU, SAYING: "I feel happy, I feel happy, I feel happy and my grand children are going to be happy when they come back from school." VARIOUS INTERIORS OF MPENDU'S NEW HOUSE
  • Embargoed: 5th September 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: South Africa
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAE6W3WX1Q18TG57V7QCQFHB4UC
  • Story Text: A group of women volunteers have built 22 homes in the New Rest informal settlement or township outside Cape Town in just 16 days as part of a drive to resolve South Africa's low-cost housing problems.
    Most of the women are unemployed residents of New Rest and are a part of Women's Build - an annual initiative by the Department of Housing - to highlight the role of women can play in construction. The homes built by the volunteers are just some of over 1000 units that are planned in order to transform New Rest.
    Gogo Nondaliseko Mpendu is one of the recipients of the newly-built houses.
    "I feel happy, I feel happy, I feel happy and my grand children are going to be happy when they come back from school," Mpendu said.
    Women's Build 2007 was to have delivered 10 completed houses in nine days for handover on Women's Day on August 9. But due to the enthusiasm of the volunteers the target was extended to 25 homes in 16 days.
    "This we do on an annual basis at the department of housing. We call it Women's Build during the month of August and we decided this year that we are going to come and concentrate in the Western Cape for obvious reasons and I'm glad we came at this time because of all the rains and the hardship of the people here," says Housing Minister, Lindiwe Sisulu.
    Gogo Nondaliseko Mpendu couldn't agree more: "I wait for quite a long time to get the house. Now I'm excited about the house, now I see something now inside my house. It's not empty," she said.
    The government is planning to develop approximately 30,000 fully integrated houses that will replace informal settlements along a 30-kilometre stretch.
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