South Africa: Sassa Pensioner Builds Her Own House Faster Than the Government

What the report says

GroundUp reports that a 67-year-old Sassa pensioner in Ndakeni, Eastern Cape, has been building her own mud-brick home over the past three years after her storm-damaged house was left uninhabitable, while the government’s replacement housing project has stalled. Nomonde Mboyi said she used her old-age grant to buy materials and pay for labor so she could move ahead instead of waiting for the official rebuild.

The article says the provincial human settlements department appointed ZIBSIPRO (Pty) Ltd in 2023 to build 200 houses for storm victims in the Mbizana area, with the work estimated at about R34-million. According to the report, none of the houses has been completed, and in Mboyi’s village the government structure is still only at foundation stage with partly built walls.

GroundUp also reports conflicting accounts about why the project stopped. The department said it terminated the contractor’s agreement during the 2025/26 financial year for poor performance and plans to restart the project, prioritizing houses already under way. The contractor said it had not been paid for about a year and blamed delays on administrative, design and weather-related problems. Community members and local leaders said many households remain frustrated and still lack clear answers.

The case highlights wider concerns about post-disaster housing delivery in the Eastern Cape, especially for residents who depend on social grants and have waited years for permanent shelter.