# Pensioner builds home while government stalls

> After three years with no progress on a government housing project, a 67-year-old in Eastern Cape used her pension to build her own house.
- Title: Pensioner builds home while government stalls · Daily Maverick
- Summary: After three years with no progress on a government housing project, a 67-year-old in Eastern Cape used her pension to build her own house. A government…
- Keywords: nomonde mboyi, mbizana, eastern cape, government housing, zibsipro, department of human settlements, storm damage, social grants, news, politics, Pensioner, builds
- Source: Daily Maverick — https://dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-10-14-sassa-pensioner-beats-stalled-government-housing-project-to-build-her-own-home
- Author: Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik and Yamkela Ntshongwana
- Published: 2026-10-14T11:33:36+00:00
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: nomonde mboyi, mbizana, eastern cape, government housing, zibsipro, department of human settlements, storm damage, social grants, news, politics
## Storm destroys homes in Mbizana
In two thousand nineteen, heavy winds and rain destroyed homes across Mbizana in rural Eastern Cape.
## Government promises to rebuild
The government told Mboyi it would rebuild her home. In two thousand twenty-three, the Eastern Cape Department of Human Settlements appointed ZIBSIPRO to replace two hundred storm-damaged houses for about thirty-four million rand, roughly one…
## Mboyi builds her own house instead
Rather than wait, Mboyi used her old-age grant to buy materials and pay for labour to build her own two-room mud house.She spent months saving enough money to continue construction while the government project stalled.

> When the contractor came here last year to start the foundation, I was already starting the walls of my two-room house.
## No government houses completed
Three years after the appointment, not one of the two hundred houses has been completed. The brick-and-mortar house the government is building for Mboyi only has a foundation and partially completed walls.
## Residents told to wait for answers
In February two thousand twenty-six, residents offered to finish the houses themselves during a meeting with the Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Local Municipality but were told to wait.

> Since then, there has been no further explanation. We are just waiting.
## Department terminates contractor
Department spokesperson Yanga Funani said ZIBSIPRO's contract was terminated during the two thousand twenty-five twenty-six financial year because of poor performance. The department planned to reinstate the project, prioritising houses where construction had already started.
## Contractor disputes termination claim
ZIBSIPRO director Palesa Phara said she was not aware the contract had been terminated. She claimed the department owed the company payment for a year, making it financially impossible to continue, and that changed payment…

> All I know is that the department has owed us payment for a year, which is why I stopped working with them.
## Mboyi's house nearly ready
Mboyi's mud house just needs plastering outside and final touch-ups before she moves in in December. She said Eskom cannot install electricity because the house is not waterproof, while the government's house remains incomplete.
## Key takeaway

A government project to rebuild two hundred storm-damaged homes in Mbizana has stalled for three years, forcing residents like Nomonde Mboyi to build their own homes using social grants.