Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale is confident a meeting on Friday with "his sister", DA leader Helen Zille, can resolve a dispute over large tracts of land the then ANC provincial government handed to the national Housing Development Agency the day before the April elections it looked set to lose.
"What we want is a win-win solution. At the end of the day this land belongs to the Republic of South Africa - not to Tokyo Sexwale or my sister Helen Zille or the MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela. It belongs to the country."
"From my side as the minister, I have the money and the dispute should be resolved so that the (homeless) people are not delayed, so that they don't suffer," he said on a visit to N2 Gateway housing projects on Thursday.
"We'll have open, frank and candid discussions (with) no baggage, all of us, so that at the end of the day the people must benefit. I think all of us want to solve the problem."
When the DA took control of the province from the ANC after winning the election outright, it uncovered the huge transfer.
Zille cried foul, saying it was an ANC conspiracy to prevent her party from delivering houses to the poor.
About 1 050 hectares, worth R500-million and enough for 100 000 houses, was transferred to the Housing Development Agency the day before the April 22 elections.
Another 350ha, large enough for 35 000 houses, was also transferred.
Zille's predecessor as premier, Lynne Brown, rejected the allegation and said the land transfers, initiated in 2008, were in terms of an agreement between the then-housing MEC Marius Fransman of the ANC and Sexwale's predecessor, Lindiwe Sisulu.
Sexwale said the dispute should be resolved speedily because the housing need was huge.
Madikizela agreed, saying the province was committed to working in unison with other spheres of government to ensure housing challenges were confronted.
Sexwale said his visit was to gather information about people's experiences of the N2 Gateway project.
He said there were about 2 000 informal settlements in the country and, while the government had delivered about 2,8 million houses in recent years, the national housing backlog was about 2,2 million.
About 10 million people did not have houses, he said.
Sexwale said that due to the global economic recession, he doubted the country would reach the goal of eradicating all informal settlements by 2014.
- Cape Times
"What we want is a win-win solution. At the end of the day this land belongs to the Republic of South Africa - not to Tokyo Sexwale or my sister Helen Zille or the MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela. It belongs to the country."
"From my side as the minister, I have the money and the dispute should be resolved so that the (homeless) people are not delayed, so that they don't suffer," he said on a visit to N2 Gateway housing projects on Thursday.
"We'll have open, frank and candid discussions (with) no baggage, all of us, so that at the end of the day the people must benefit. I think all of us want to solve the problem."
When the DA took control of the province from the ANC after winning the election outright, it uncovered the huge transfer.
Zille cried foul, saying it was an ANC conspiracy to prevent her party from delivering houses to the poor.
About 1 050 hectares, worth R500-million and enough for 100 000 houses, was transferred to the Housing Development Agency the day before the April 22 elections.
Another 350ha, large enough for 35 000 houses, was also transferred.
Zille's predecessor as premier, Lynne Brown, rejected the allegation and said the land transfers, initiated in 2008, were in terms of an agreement between the then-housing MEC Marius Fransman of the ANC and Sexwale's predecessor, Lindiwe Sisulu.
Sexwale said the dispute should be resolved speedily because the housing need was huge.
Madikizela agreed, saying the province was committed to working in unison with other spheres of government to ensure housing challenges were confronted.
Sexwale said his visit was to gather information about people's experiences of the N2 Gateway project.
He said there were about 2 000 informal settlements in the country and, while the government had delivered about 2,8 million houses in recent years, the national housing backlog was about 2,2 million.
About 10 million people did not have houses, he said.
Sexwale said that due to the global economic recession, he doubted the country would reach the goal of eradicating all informal settlements by 2014.
- Cape Times
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