WATCH: Wetland nightmare for abahlali!

FLEURHOF extension 21 residents are frustrated.

Residents of RDP units built next to a wetland in Fleurhof said they're living in constant fear as water flows into their homes, soaking walls, damaging furniture, and creating a dangerous, unhealthy environment.

For many families, especially those with small kids, the fear is growing that their houses might collapse on them.

"The ground is always wet. Our walls are cracking, the floors are damp, and we don't know how long these houses will stand," said a frustrated resident.

Parents are also concerned about the lack of safe spaces for their kids. With the area surrounding their homes always damp and muddy, there's nowhere for kids to play.

"Our children are trapped indoors. Our yard is a swamp," another resident said.

Many said they feel forgotten, left to deal with the results of poor planning and rushed building. "We were happy when we got these houses," said gogo Lizzy Ramashea (88).

"But now, it feels like we've been dumped here to suffer. These houses were allocated to us in 2021. When I came here, I had a bed, but it was destroyed by the water. I bought another one and it got destroyed too. All my walls are damp, and the water creates a horrible smell. I do want a house, but the one given to me by the government is a curse. I've lost three TVs, and all my fridges have stopped working."

Gogo Lizzy said the wet floors have worsened her health. "I stay in bed all day. I can't move around. The damp has made me sick," she said.

Another elder, 67-year-old gogo Belinna Buthelezi shares her cramped two-bedroom RDP house with eight others.

Their nights are disrupted by the need to constantly check and change soaked blankets.

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"When you wake up, everything is wet. Water flows from one room to another," she said.

Maria Nkoadi, a block leader in the area, said the homes were a blessing at first, but said the situation now feels like abandonment.

"We need help. Ever since the government dumped us here, they don't care what happens to us," she said.

Duduzile Mkhwanazi told Daily Sun that the issue began two years ago. She said they approached the Department of Human Settlements but got no real help.

The City of Joburg's Human Settlements department's Sibonelo Mtshali said that Fleurhof is located near a water course and therefore prone to groundwater issues. But he insisted that the structures were built outside the flood line.

"There was a stormwater channel constructed in 2015 to direct water away from Fleurhof," Mtshali said.

"But the gabion structure supporting it was vandalised and is no longer maintained. As a result, water dams up against the boundary wall and seeps into Ext 21 homes.

They added that developer Calgro is currently installing a second subsoil drain to help - but warned it won't solve the problem completely unless the Joburg Roads Agency (JRA) repairs the original stormwater channel."