Thursday, June 28, 2007

Housing is political Soccer - a game to the incumbents

Mayor Zille said she had also started a process to declare a formal intergovernmental dispute with the province over the reluctance of provincial housing MEC Richard Dyantyi to grant the city the first-phase approval for becoming a national housing agent.

She said the city had applied in November last year for housing accreditation, in terms of the Housing Act, which would give it direct access to national subsidies for the provision of housing opportunities without going through the province.

The national department of housing has already made R1,2m available to the city to establish capacity as an accredited housing agent, but Dyantyi had still not granted authorisation for phase one of the accreditation required.

Zille said the council had submitted a business plan to Dyantyi, which was re-submitted after he had asked for changes to be made.

“Months have passed, and nothing has happened, despite repeated requests,” she said.

She said she was now going through the process of declaring a dispute in terms of the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act.

“I hope that we are able to resolve this matter before it proceeds to the courts,” Zille said.

Business Day - News Worth Knowing


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