The City of Ekurhuleni’s City Planning Department fixed four properties which were affected by sinkholes at Nhlapo section, in Katlehong.The sinkholes were discovered in 2017, whereby the City Planning department acted instantly by conducting a thorough research that resulted in endorsing the vital construction work, however only two houses were demolished due to the severity of the sinkholes as the surface on both sides were the houses were erected needed to be rehabilitated before the houses could be reconstructed. The official house handover ceremony was held on the 8th of October 2020 were-in the two homeowners Paul Nthinotse and Bafana Dube were ceremoniously welcomed back to their newly restored accommodative houses.
One of the home owners (Paul Nthinotse) who gladly returned to his nobly rebuilt house delightfully uttered, saying, I’m happy to be back at my new house, it has been improved because I have a bathroom inside the house now, I would like to thank the City of Ekurhuleni for acting accordingly to my crisis, Nthinotse excitedly disclosed.Another house recipient Bongani Dube said, “I’m happy to be finally in the house, I’ve lost a lot during the past three years, my brother died while we were still accommodated at one of our relatives’ house, while we were still waiting for the building process to be completed; I would also like to thank the City of Ekurhuleni for what they have done for me,” Dube gratefully alluded.MMC of City Planning,Cllr, Ndosi Shongwe, addressed the attendees saying, “We came here to handover the houses to the families which were in a dire condition because of the sinkholes, as the City of Ekurhuleni we strive to serve our citizens, before we help anyone with these kind of issues we conduct a research first, not everyone qualifies to be assisted; we are also issuing out the certificates of ownership and house plans for both owners today,”Shongwe concluded
