Joburg wheelchair users demand houses
City criticised for sidelining them
People with disabilities gathered at the Bixton Multipurpose Centre earlier this week and demanded more RDP housing opportunities for them in Johannesburg. Photo: Silver Sibiya
About 200 people with disabilities gathered at the Bixton Multipurpose Centre on Tuesday demanding more RDP housing opportunities.
City of Johannesburg officials were in the area to present the draft Integrated Development Plan 2025/26 budget ahead of the Mayor Dada Morero’s State of the City Address.
During his speech on Wednesday afternoon Morero mentioned that the City would be addressing “deep infrastructure backlogs” with an allocated budget of R3-billion over the Medium-Term Revenue Expenditure Framework to invest in underserved areas such as Diepsloot, Ivory Park/Kaalfontein, Orange Farm, Soweto, Riverlea, Zandspruit, and Eldorado Park.
While Morero spoke about developments expected to make more houses available, he did not mention how many would be allocated to people with disabilities. Some of the projects include the Lufhereng Mixed-Use Development near Protea Glen, expected to have over 30,000 houses.
At the meeting on Tuesday in Brixton the City was criticised for sidelining people with disabilities with regard to housing.
Norman Gigi is a wheelchair user who lives in Kanana informal settlement near Midrand which does not have formal access to water and electricity. He said moving from the densely populated area to an RDP house would improve his life.
“Here there are no proper roads so emergency cars and ambulances can’t get to us,” he said. Gigi lives with his wife and children. They are all unemployed. “My wheelchair uses a battery, so I have to charge it, but there is no electricity here.”
Another wheelchair user, Gloria Mbele from Tshepisong, complained that she applied for an RDP house in 1996 and is still waiting. “We have gone everywhere [Human Settlements offices] hoping to get houses. We are also not treated well there,” she said.
The City’s Margaret Arnolds urged the group to submit their concerns and comments on the draft IDP plan to ensure their needs are included.
Head of the City’s health department Martin Lebeya promised to reach out to those facing health issues, including those who have problems with their wheelchairs like Gigi.
Speaker Nobuhle Mthembu admitted that the municipality was behind in addressing the needs of residents with disabilities. She promised that officials would be visiting different regions to talk to different organisations to better understand how they can assist people with disabilities.
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