It is unlikely that government housing agent Thubelisha Homes will complete the flagship N2 Gateway housing project, but this does not mean the project will stall, the province has been told.
A representative of the national housing department's legal services, Khwezi Ngwenya, was briefing the Western Cape standing committee on governance about the proposed Housing Development Agency Bill.
Ngwenya told the committee that the draft bill is to establishes the Housing Development Agency, which will be "the engine for driving and facilitating acquisition of land and landed property in a way that supplements the capacities of government across all spheres".
Thubelisha and another housing company, Servcon, would be incorporated into the new agency.
Ngwenya said the Treasury wanted to do away with Section 21 companies such as Thubelisha.
In a response to a committee member's question as to what would happen to Thubelisha's incomplete project or projects, Ngwenya said that once established, the new agency would complete those projects.
"We are trying to ensure that as soon as the agency is established, it can look at incomplete projects," he said.
The chief of operations in the national Housing Department, Joseph Leshabane, told the Cape Argus that during the process of rationalising state-owned institutions or companies, it had been decided to close the People's Housing Partnership Trust (PHPT), Thubelisha and Servcon.
This was part of a government-wide process of rationalising institutions.
Servcon was established to normalise the lending process, by managing non-performing loansand properties in possession in areas where the normal legal process had broken down, under the agreement between the Department of Housing and financial institutions.
This was part of the Botshabelo Accord of 1994 where it was agreed that instead of repossessing homes of those people who failed to meet repayments, they should be "right-sized". Thubelisha on the other hand was to build houses for people in the Servcon process.
"The mandate of those institutions has now matured," said Leshabane.
The principle objective of the proposed agency would be to identify, acquire, hold, develop and release state and privately-owned land for residential and community purposes and for the creation of sustainable human settlements.
The agency would also have powers which included assistance to municipalities to complete projects as well as engaging with any organ of the state for purposes of acquiring available land.
This would only happen where there was a lack of capacity to identify, acquire, hold or develop such land.
Committee chairman Patrick McKenzie said he was sorry that Thubelisha's mandate was expiring.
McKenzie praised the quality of houses that Thubelisha had delivered, saying they brought dignity to the people.
He said he hoped the expertise and scarce skills acquired by Thubelisha would be kept by the government in the new agency.
He added that it was sad that the very people who needed houses were the ones who stalled the delivery of their homes.
The N2 Gateway Project first encountered problems when Joe Slovo informal settlement dwellers refused to be relocated to Delft -15km away - to make way for the housing development.'
In March, following an application for eviction lodged in September last year, the Cape High Court ordered that the more than 4 000 households be temporarily relocated to Delft.
This was the delay that contributed to Thubelisha's five-year mandate maturing without them completing the project.
The head of the N2 Gateway project, Prince Xhanti Sigcawu, confirmed that the project would be driven by the new entity, which would swallow the two companies.
Sigcawu added that the new entity would continue dealing with the legal issues.
- Cape Argus
A representative of the national housing department's legal services, Khwezi Ngwenya, was briefing the Western Cape standing committee on governance about the proposed Housing Development Agency Bill.
Ngwenya told the committee that the draft bill is to establishes the Housing Development Agency, which will be "the engine for driving and facilitating acquisition of land and landed property in a way that supplements the capacities of government across all spheres".
Thubelisha and another housing company, Servcon, would be incorporated into the new agency.
Ngwenya said the Treasury wanted to do away with Section 21 companies such as Thubelisha.
In a response to a committee member's question as to what would happen to Thubelisha's incomplete project or projects, Ngwenya said that once established, the new agency would complete those projects.
"We are trying to ensure that as soon as the agency is established, it can look at incomplete projects," he said.
The chief of operations in the national Housing Department, Joseph Leshabane, told the Cape Argus that during the process of rationalising state-owned institutions or companies, it had been decided to close the People's Housing Partnership Trust (PHPT), Thubelisha and Servcon.
This was part of a government-wide process of rationalising institutions.
Servcon was established to normalise the lending process, by managing non-performing loansand properties in possession in areas where the normal legal process had broken down, under the agreement between the Department of Housing and financial institutions.
This was part of the Botshabelo Accord of 1994 where it was agreed that instead of repossessing homes of those people who failed to meet repayments, they should be "right-sized". Thubelisha on the other hand was to build houses for people in the Servcon process.
"The mandate of those institutions has now matured," said Leshabane.
The principle objective of the proposed agency would be to identify, acquire, hold, develop and release state and privately-owned land for residential and community purposes and for the creation of sustainable human settlements.
The agency would also have powers which included assistance to municipalities to complete projects as well as engaging with any organ of the state for purposes of acquiring available land.
This would only happen where there was a lack of capacity to identify, acquire, hold or develop such land.
Committee chairman Patrick McKenzie said he was sorry that Thubelisha's mandate was expiring.
McKenzie praised the quality of houses that Thubelisha had delivered, saying they brought dignity to the people.
He said he hoped the expertise and scarce skills acquired by Thubelisha would be kept by the government in the new agency.
He added that it was sad that the very people who needed houses were the ones who stalled the delivery of their homes.
The N2 Gateway Project first encountered problems when Joe Slovo informal settlement dwellers refused to be relocated to Delft -15km away - to make way for the housing development.'
In March, following an application for eviction lodged in September last year, the Cape High Court ordered that the more than 4 000 households be temporarily relocated to Delft.
This was the delay that contributed to Thubelisha's five-year mandate maturing without them completing the project.
The head of the N2 Gateway project, Prince Xhanti Sigcawu, confirmed that the project would be driven by the new entity, which would swallow the two companies.
Sigcawu added that the new entity would continue dealing with the legal issues.
- Cape Argus
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