A DREAM COME TRUE: Soweto pensioner (97) finally gets RDP home after Daily Maverick report

After decades of broken promises, 97-year-old Emily Mohapi has finally moved into her RDP home in Soweto, Johannesburg. For years, she had lived in the Protea South informal settlement, applying for a Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) house in 1996. Despite others moving into formal homes, Mohapi remained in a dilapidated two-room shack, her housing requests consistently ignored.

Her story caught the attention of Daily Maverick reporter, who exposed her struggle in a March 2025 article. The report prompted provincial housing officials to address the systemic failure, resulting in Mohapi receiving her keys last week. The mega housing project, Lufhereng, is located in the west of Soweto.

Mohapi, who is officially 106 years old but claims she was born in 1929, attributed her strength to her years as a domestic worker under apartheid. She still tends her garden, remembering her previous home as a shack with relatives and community members taking turns to care for her.

With Gauteng's housing backlog of 500,000 units and a provincial target of 5,923 houses for 2024/25, the situation remains dire for many pensioners in the area. Jos Venter, representing Protea South residents in their legal fight against the City of Johannesburg, highlighted the slow pace of RDP house awards and the city's inadequate response to housing applications.