Building ground to a halt at the N2 Gateway in Delft on Thursday when sub-contractors downed tools over money.
The protest by 60 sub-contractors caused yet another delay to the national government’s low-cost flagship housing project.
Protesting workers claimed the consortium that won the main contract, Buyile, was short-changing them. They presented their grievances to Thubelisha, the agency that manages the multimillion project on behalf of the national Department of Housing.
Thubelisha hastily convened a meeting with a steering committee representing the disgruntled sub-contractors on Thursday afternoon.
The agency’s Prince Maluleke said Thubelisha ought not to get involved in the dispute between the sub-contractors and the main contractors, but the company had intervened to ensure there were no further delays.
The meeting ended without any solution and a follow-up meeting was scheduled for Monday.
Spokesperson for the steering committee, Nicholas Maziya, said the main gripe was over payment.
“The sub-contractors are being exploited. We even wrote letters to Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu and Local Government and Housing MEC Richard Dyantyi about what is happening on the site,” he said…
The department of housing took over the project from the City of Cape Town last year after it accusing the city of causing the delays and building sub-standard housing.
Patrick Mackenzie, chairperson of the provincial standing committee on housing in the Western Cape legislature, condemned the delays and said it was not the first time construction had been halted because of disputes over payment.
Mackenzie, who toured the project with the national assembly’s portfolio committee of housing earlier this month, blamed problems on a “lack of political management”.
“I am also concerned with Thubelisha being both player and referee by managing the allocation of houses and collection of rentals,” he said.
He also slammed the size of the completed houses as too small: “During the imbizo, some people said they would rather stay in their shacks than move into the finished houses. The houses are unacceptable. The bedrooms are so small a bed takes up the whole space.” - Cape Times
The protest by 60 sub-contractors caused yet another delay to the national government’s low-cost flagship housing project.
Protesting workers claimed the consortium that won the main contract, Buyile, was short-changing them. They presented their grievances to Thubelisha, the agency that manages the multimillion project on behalf of the national Department of Housing.
Thubelisha hastily convened a meeting with a steering committee representing the disgruntled sub-contractors on Thursday afternoon.
The agency’s Prince Maluleke said Thubelisha ought not to get involved in the dispute between the sub-contractors and the main contractors, but the company had intervened to ensure there were no further delays.
The meeting ended without any solution and a follow-up meeting was scheduled for Monday.
Spokesperson for the steering committee, Nicholas Maziya, said the main gripe was over payment.
“The sub-contractors are being exploited. We even wrote letters to Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu and Local Government and Housing MEC Richard Dyantyi about what is happening on the site,” he said…
The department of housing took over the project from the City of Cape Town last year after it accusing the city of causing the delays and building sub-standard housing.
Patrick Mackenzie, chairperson of the provincial standing committee on housing in the Western Cape legislature, condemned the delays and said it was not the first time construction had been halted because of disputes over payment.
Mackenzie, who toured the project with the national assembly’s portfolio committee of housing earlier this month, blamed problems on a “lack of political management”.
“I am also concerned with Thubelisha being both player and referee by managing the allocation of houses and collection of rentals,” he said.
He also slammed the size of the completed houses as too small: “During the imbizo, some people said they would rather stay in their shacks than move into the finished houses. The houses are unacceptable. The bedrooms are so small a bed takes up the whole space.” - Cape Times
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