Ramaphosa should have kept his pledge to himself

● Katriena Sambaba was overjoyed when, on the eve of last year’s municipal elections, President Cyril Ramaphosa promised she would get a new home within weeks.

They met during a door-to-door election campaign at Mamre outside Atlantis near Cape Town, and Ramaphosa was appalled by the living conditions in her unplastered oneroom dwelling.

“She’s been living there for 40 years. Now with the help of [the ANC ward candidate] and other comrades, we are going to build her a brand-new house,” Ramaphosa declared as ANC supporters whistled and clapped.

In return, the former farmworker, who said she wanted to “die in dignity”, voted for the ANC on November 1 as she had promised Ramaphosa.

Today the 71-year-old, known as “Aunt Thuli”, is despondent. Ramaphosa failed to deliver on his promise.

“It will be the second Christmas that I will spend in my tiny home after the president’s promise. When he promised us the house last year, my family and I were so happy. We started imagining our Christmas in the new house and we even made plans for how we were all going to have a big Christmas party in which my children and grandchildren would sleep over for the first time in a while.

“Even though they usually spend Christmas with me they never sleep over due to a lack of space. This year they will still be coming but we will have to hire a tent.”

During that election campaign Ramaphosa said: “I went inside her house and it did not make me happy.”

Sambaba, who lives with a grandchild, told the Sunday Times she never heard from the presidency again.

“I haven’t heard from anyone. I don’t know whether the house is still going to be built. I feel sad and discouraged that the president never kept his promise even though I kept my promise to vote for the ANC, which ultimately failed to win the ward in the election.

“The president gave me false hope and that’s what makes me even more downcast. If there was no promise I wouldn’t be as sad as I have lived here for more than 40 years anyway.”

She and her husband, who has since died, raised six children in the tiny home. Not only did she lack privacy and risked her safety using the outside toilet at night, the damp, caused by leaks and a lack of plastering, put her health at risk.

She cooks meals over firewood in a makeshift kitchen.

Sambaba said she had elected to vote for the ANC “to give them a chance” because the DA, which won her vote in the previous election, had disappointed her with “empty promises”.

“I thought the ANC would improve my life but I don’t know who to believe any more after this disappointment,” she said.

Neither the ANC nor the Presidency was willing this week to comment about Ramaphosa’s promise to Sambaba. The provincial ANC distanced itself, with spokesperson Lerumo Kalako referring questions to the Presidency: “I know nothing about it. The only people who will know about it are people from the Presidency.”

DA councillor Allister Lightburn, who represents ward 29, said this week that the Housing Development Agency (HDA), which works closely with provincial governments and municipalities in respect of emergency housing solutions, had recently visited Sambaba to assess her property.

“Auntie Thuli is already on the housing waiting list and the thinking from our side is to see if anything could be done to have her housing issue resolved and honoured. What the president did is very disappointing, especially to an elderly person like Auntie Thuli.

“We don’t want to say a house is going to be built for her but I’m in constant contact with the City of Cape Town’s human settlements directorate and the HDA to see if the process can be fast-tracked to build her the house she so desperately needs.”

Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, did not respond to questions sent to him or phone calls.

ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe undertook to discuss the issue with the Presidency and provide feedback in due course.