The Western Cape government looks set to get back the land that was transferred to the Housing Development Agency (HDA) by the ANC provincial government shortly before April's general elections.
This was revealed by Premier Helen Zille on Tuesday at the provincial parliament when she responded to a question about the findings of an investigation into the land transfer.
Zille said they were getting legal advice on the process applied in the transfer of the pieces of land, but that lawyers had informed her there was a chance that the land would be returned to the province.
ANC chief whip Max Ozinsky wanted to know whether Zille had, to date, found any evidence to suggest that the transfers were illegal, to which she responded that she had been informed that "apart from immorality and the cynicism of the actions, the 1 000 hectares (of land) was done without the approval of the provincial Treasury".
Zille said this was irregular and that the transfer of the Housing department land was done without taking it to the provincial legal department.
"And I was also informed by lawyers that there is a substantial chance of us getting the land returned, which demonstrates that it was not appropriately processed, and it was done with unseemingly haste in order to finish the transaction before this government came into power."
She said that she had written to the national ministry of Human Settlements and the chief executive of the HDA, to place on record that her administration questioned the legality of the transaction and to request a meeting with them to resolve the issue.
Zille said they did not believe that the land transferred and land availability of units would result in the fastest or the most active delivery of housing on the parcels of land involved.
She said the HDA did not yet have a development arm in place.
"The disastrously run Thubelisha Homes which repeatedly failed to meet its targets on the N2 Gateway project has yet to be replaced. So, what the HDA is doing with this land or how it is going to develop this land - even it does not know," said Zille.
-Cape Argus
This was revealed by Premier Helen Zille on Tuesday at the provincial parliament when she responded to a question about the findings of an investigation into the land transfer.
Zille said they were getting legal advice on the process applied in the transfer of the pieces of land, but that lawyers had informed her there was a chance that the land would be returned to the province.
ANC chief whip Max Ozinsky wanted to know whether Zille had, to date, found any evidence to suggest that the transfers were illegal, to which she responded that she had been informed that "apart from immorality and the cynicism of the actions, the 1 000 hectares (of land) was done without the approval of the provincial Treasury".
Zille said this was irregular and that the transfer of the Housing department land was done without taking it to the provincial legal department.
"And I was also informed by lawyers that there is a substantial chance of us getting the land returned, which demonstrates that it was not appropriately processed, and it was done with unseemingly haste in order to finish the transaction before this government came into power."
She said that she had written to the national ministry of Human Settlements and the chief executive of the HDA, to place on record that her administration questioned the legality of the transaction and to request a meeting with them to resolve the issue.
Zille said they did not believe that the land transferred and land availability of units would result in the fastest or the most active delivery of housing on the parcels of land involved.
She said the HDA did not yet have a development arm in place.
"The disastrously run Thubelisha Homes which repeatedly failed to meet its targets on the N2 Gateway project has yet to be replaced. So, what the HDA is doing with this land or how it is going to develop this land - even it does not know," said Zille.
-Cape Argus
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