Housing dept spends R60m on ads

Cape Town - The department of human settlements spent R60m on advertising during the 2008/09 financial year, despite its budget of just R20m.

The department said in reply to a Parliamentary question from the Democratic Alliance that the R60m included the 52 performances of a face-to-face housing consumer campaign and a housing awards ceremony.

"The costs also include all advertising conceptualisation, production and procurement of media space for public broadcast or publication," the department said in its answer.

DA MP Butch Steyn said South Africa could not afford to continue spending massive amounts of money on advertising campaigns and events "which rarely have a direct impact upon rolling out of services".

"There is simply no excuse that funds are being wasted like this - money that should be spent eradicating the massive service delivery backlogs is instead being spent on self-congratulatory public relations campaigns and talk shops," Steyn said.

'Could have been spent on RDP houses'

A reply to a separate question revealed that the department spent R9.6m on conferences, imbizos and seminars for the period January 1 2006 to September 1 2009, and R883 000 on travel costs for the functions.

Particularly concerning is the fact that R23.4m was spent on one particular campaign which, according to the reply, was intended to "continue to profile the housing programmes, developments, achievements and challenges to beneficiaries and the general public," Steyn said.

"It is very difficult to see how R23m could be justified on this kind of self-indulgent marketing.

"This was not the only expenditure item of concern. One awards ceremony cost the department R1.8m to organise and host, another R600 000 for accommodation and transport, and another R930 000 to advertise.

"In other words, it set the public purse back R3.3m.

"This R9.6m, added to the R60m spent on advertising, could have built RDP houses for another 6 500 South Africans," Steyn said.

- SAPA

Police angered by 'community justice'

Police fear "bundu courts" have been revived, claiming the lives of four suspected criminals at the hands of vigilantes in the community.

Over the weekend there were three incidences in Khayelitsha where young men were stoned to death and in Tygerdal, Goodwood, a man was beaten to death. In all the cases, members of the community are believed to have taken the law into their own hands.

Khayelitsha police station commander Aaron Mlenga decried the reappearance of the "bundu courts", first established in the struggle against apartheid to deal with collaborators: "The community is requested to come forward with information to assist the police in the apprehension of these groupings. We need to rid our area of vigilante groups and make our streets safe for our children again."

On Friday morning, the body of a man believed to be in his late 20s was discovered next to a container, used to store refuse, next to Lansdowne Road, adjacent to the RR-section in Site B, Khayelitsha.

When the Cape Times visited the area last night few people were willing to talk but one young woman said the man's crime was believed to have been attempted murder at the nearby BM-section.

"The man lived in Makhaza (Khayelitsha) and his crime was that he had set alight another man's wife. A group of residents from BM-Section, hearing about the incidence which happened on Thursday chased after him and assaulted him with all sorts of weapons," said the woman.

The man's limp body was dragged down Lansdowne Road to RR-Section, across the road from the Mew Hall and where he was struck with further blows to his head.

"I could see that he was still alive when the mob brought him here, he managed to open his eyes. But one man struck a heavy blow to his head and that's when he seemed dead. He was no longer breathing," said the woman.

Khayelitsha police spokesperson Mthokozisi Gama said: "We are still investigating but so far we have managed to arrest three suspects for the different incidents aged 52, 37 and 48. They will appear in the Khayelitsha Magistrate's court soon,"

He added police would maintain a zero tolerance approach against the community members because all they were doing was contributing to crime. - Cape Times

Houses standing empty as bank admits some N2 Gateway units are difficult to sell

MONTHS after being completed, gap houses which form part of the N2 Gateway in Langa remain unsold as the bank financing the project admits affordability is a factor.

First National Bank spokesperson Busi Mngomezulu said some of the units priced at just under R600 000 had been hard to sell.

All 43 units at the show village are empty although Mngomezulu said 33 had been sold to approved buyers.

The bank had initially planned to build 300 units at the N2 Gateway even as critics claimed houses there would never be affordable to families who had previously lived at the Joe Slovo informal settlement, despite claims to the contrary from Thubelisha Homes and previous housing officials.

Further development at the site has been delayed by Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale’s halting of all planned evictions of remaining shack dwellers in the area.

The first residents are expected to move into the area in January.

Mngomezulu said the delay was due to the bank’s awaiting the opening of the sectional title register.

Most of the units sold had been priced below R350 000, the cheapest at R’ 000.

To buy the remaining units, prospective owners have to earn between R11 700 and R20 000 a month as either part of a single or joint income, be creditworthy and have enough money left at the end of the month for living expenses.

One prominent critic of the housing project and the government’s handling of the Joe Slovo evictions and subsequent plans for the site, Emeritus Professor Martin Legassick, said people living there had been opposed to the development of gap houses.

“They should be knocked down and in their stead BNG (breaking new ground) houses would have to be built. They were built illegally while court action was under way to determine the legality of the N2 Gateway development.”

Admitting demolition would be extreme, Legassick said empty gap houses could be converted into medium-density units.

Meanwhile the chairman of the Joe Slovo Task Team, Sifiso Mapasa, said not a single family from the informal settlement, moved to make way for the N2 Gateway, had been accommodated at newly completed BNG houses.

“It was supposed to be a 70/30 split (the lesser coming from Joe Slovo) but the Housing Development Agency is repeating bad practices from the first phase of the N2 Gateway,” said Mapasa. - Cape Times

Visiting Blikkiesdorp risky for politicians

Politicians planning to visit Blikkiesdorp, the temporary relocation settlement in Delft, should first let the SAPS know for safety reasons, the area's police commissioner has warned.

Issuing the warning, Commissioner Basil Vellai said the area was "a housing time-bomb" that threatened to explode and criminals were preying on the impoverished residents of Blikkiesdorp.

He said the thousands of people living "in frustration" in the crime-ridden community were approaching boiling point.

'It's like a housing time-bomb. If housing isn't sorted out, there'll be big problems.'

But Mayor Dan Plato, who was slapped by an angry woman when he visited the area last week, says he is "happy" with Blikkiesdorp - to the extent that it may be extended and one or two "similar informal areas" created.

Tomorrow, at least 2 000 people are planning to march to the Cape Town Civic Centre to speak to him about their living conditions.

During his visit, angry residents also swore at Plato after he dismissed their complaints about inhuman conditions, saying the settlement was "among the best".

Although the wood-and-iron structures provided may be better than shacks, Vellai said Blikkiesdorp was "a housing time-bomb" and plagued by crime.

"Drug merchants from all over are coming into the area," he said.

"They're targeting the poor people living there saying, 'If you stash my drugs (in your home), I'll pay you'. Or they're forcing the people out (of the temporary homes).

"There's housebreaking, clothes are stolen straight off washing lines. Because there are no garages, cars are broken into. Strangers and criminal elements are moving in and benefiting from Blikkiesdorp. Gangsters are capitalising on it."

At weekends, alcohol and drug abuse became a problem in Blikkiesdorp, and this was when children were often left unattended, Vellai said.

Domestic violence was also common in Blikkiesdorp, and in eight months three murders had been reported there.

Vellai said the area was barren.

"People there are poor and living in frustration. It's getting to them. When it's 29 or 30 degrees Celsius outside, those homes are boiling inside."

People from other other parts of Cape Town were living there, as were people displaced by the xenophobic violence last year. Although issues related to xenophobia had cropped up, they had been sorted out before any violence occurred, Vellai said.

About 1 452 families are staying in Blikkiesdorp. There are 215 more who have yet to be accommodated.

The number of people in Blikkiesdorp was growing, Vellai said.

"It's like a housing time-bomb. If housing isn't sorted out, there'll be big problems."

Raids were frequently carried out and a patrol van was always in the vicinity.

A neighbourhood watch had been set up, but some of its members had been threatened for giving the police information, Vellai said.

Plato said yesterday there were no service delivery problems in Blikkiesdorp and that he was "happy" with the area.

He said the social problems experienced there were the same as in other areas.

"It's a case of because council has put (the residents) there, we must be responsible for the social problems."

Plato said the media were using Blikkiesdorp as "a stick to hit council".

"The dramatic story, the untold story of Blikkiesdorp, goes unnoticed. When a number of people come up and say 'Dan Plato, thank you'. When you look at where most of them are coming from, we give them at least something.

"Where were the media when I was knee-deep in water, walking in my suit in Mfuleni?"

People were waiting to move into temporary relocation areas. If people were unhappy in Blikkiesdorp they could "go find something better".

- Cape Times

Housing policy isn't working

The Premier of the Western Cape says the current model has proved unsustainable

This week saw the completion of a housing quality audit conducted by the National Department of Human Settlements. It found that the quality of houses built by the state was so poor that R1.3 billion is needed for repairs.

To put this into perspective, this amount is a full 10% of this year's national housing adjustment budget - just shy of the R1,58 billion of housing funds allocated to the Western Cape.

Minister Tokyo Sexwale has expressed anger, and justifiably so: This R1.3 billion could have been used to build around 13,000 new houses for people in need. It means that beneficiaries who have already received their full R100,000 subsidy will receive an additional significant allocation to make their houses habitable.

Minister Sexwale's admission of what is ultimately a failure of his department is refreshing and we commend him for it. So too is his tough stance against the perpetrators and his commitment to rectify the situation. It is indeed a national shame - as he put it - that billions need to be spent on rectification at the expense of new housing opportunities.

But Minster Sexwale's candid approach should not stop at the quality of houses being built by the state. It is time for us all to take a long, hard look at the way the state delivers housing and ask: is it fair? Is it affordable? Is it sustainable? Is the current approach achieving (or undermining) the policy's objectives?

An honest assessment would show that national housing policy isn't working.

When former Housing Minister, Lindiwe Sisulu, unveiled the ‘Breaking New Ground' policy in 2004, she announced that its aim was to eradicate shack settlements by 2014. In practice, however, the policy is leading to an increase in the number of unserviced shack settlements, across the country.

This is happening for three main reasons:

1) The demand for free, state-sponsored housing greatly outstrips the supply and this mismatch is growing. This is the result of natural population growth, escalating urbanisation, and the growing influx of asylum seekers. The assumption that a free house is a right has become entrenched -- and the number of people claiming this "right" is growing exponentially.

2) Stringent laws regulating planning and land use make it impossible to keep ahead of the demand for housing land. The 3-year long process required to release land for housing encourages land invasions. The result is that unserviced shack settlements mushroom, complicating the housing delivery process further, and setting up conflicts between shack dwellers and back-yard dwellers for access to housing opportunities.

3) Beneficiaries of free housing increasingly regard their house as a potential income source rather than a place to live. More and more are moving out of their houses, back into a shack, and letting (or selling) their house at a fraction of its value to a person who does not qualify for a free house. The result is that shack settlements continue to grow while state subsidies, intended to benefit the very poor, end up subsidising the emerging middle class. Even though this practice is illegal, it is very difficult to monitor. This practice further entrenches the notion that a "free" house is a "right" for everyone, not just the indigent.

Given this situation, it is not surprising that the backlog is growing. The Department of Human Settlements has said that in three years time, R102 billion will be required to clear the housing backlog, a figure which will more than double to R253 billion in 2016. (This is nearly 20 times the entire current annual housing budget)

This is clearly unsustainable. We have to re-think our approach to housing policy by asking a few fundamental questions, starting from the beginning.

1) How much of the national budget should South Africa spend on housing -- given all the competing priorities in a developing country?

South Africa's national budget for ‘housing and community amenities' is currentlyR73.2 billion (8.7% of the national budget, of which around R13 billion is distributed to provinces for housing subsidies). In a developing country, with only 5 million registered personal taxpayers, this is about as much as the state can spend on housing, given the pressing competing priorities.

2) Who should benefit from this money? Should we spread this amount as equitably as possible, thus doing a little for many people, or should we rather do a lot for a few?

Our current housing policy opts for the latter. Each RDP house costs about R100,000. This means, in the Western Cape for example, the R1.6-billion Rand allocated to housing provides around 16,000 RDP homes every year (if enough land can be made available).

This is a tiny fraction of the estimated backlog in the Western Cape of 500,000 houses. And this backlog is growing. It is estimated that, at the current rate of delivery, the backlog in 2040 will be at around 800,000. In other words, the waiting list in the province is growing by 10,000 families per annum, despite government spending all of its housing allocation each year.

So, under the current policy we are, in fact, going backwards. The policy of providing a lot for a few is making the backlog grow.

To be fair, national government policy has recognised these problems, and has diversified its strategy in an attempt to address them. There are now various policy options and instruments designed to widen the "choices" offered through national housing policy.

The alternatives include:

1.) Site and Service: The provision of a serviced site (with water, sewage, electricity and road access) requires the beneficiary to build a dwelling and improve it incrementally.

2.) In Situ upgrading, which focuses on upgrading informal settlements, where they are, providing services and enabling families incrementally to upgrade their shacks.

3) Social housing (often in the form of flats). These are state subsidised but require beneficiaries to pay rent in order make the economic model replicable and sustainable.

All of these steps seek to address the intractable problems of providing housing for the poor. They are still bedevilled by two factors.

The first is the amount of land required to implement the RDP, the site and service, and the in-situ upgrading options. They are premised on the notion of a single dwelling on a separate site. This leads to low-density urban sprawl with serious consequences ranging from the environment to the viability of public transport.

The second factor undermining the diversified approach to housing is the entrenched expectation that a free, formal house on a separate plot is a right. People resist the option of a "flat" (especially if they have to pay rent for it) when other people are getting a free house. It does not always help to explain to beneficiaries that it costs three times as much to construct a flat than to build an RDP house on a separate site. They reject these explanations because they experience what sociologists call "relative deprivation". They believe they are being deprived of a benefit that others are getting. And this often leads to refusal to pay rents, meaning that the building of flats grinds to a halt because the process is unsustainable.

"Relative deprivation" also often leads to "service delivery protests". Such protests are sometimes about demands and expectations that cannot be met. An extreme example of such a protest was the one where people "demanded" an extra room on their free RDP houses. Another was the protest of some shack-dwellers in Masiphumelele, who refuse to accept the offer of a highly subsidised flat (combining both the R100,000 state subsidy as well as generous donor funding). The protesters are deliberately blocking the development because they are demanding an individual house on a separate site.

While some continue to make unmeetable demands, many others live in absolute deprivation and do not even get the most basic services.

Figures released recently by the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs show just how many people are still without access even to basic services, let alone a house: 2.5 million (19.3%) households do not have access to running water, 3.4 million (27.3%) households are without electricity and 4.2million (32.6%) households do not have access to basic sanitation.

Access to clean water, sanitation and electricity is the first step on the road to dignity. Government policy should increasingly focus on meeting these basic needs.

We must be honest that housing policy is notoriously complex terrain. There are no easy answers and there are no quick wins. We must start by getting some of the basics right, such as speeding up the release of land for housing, cutting the red tape that delays delivery, tackling corruption and ensuring that the houses built are of the requisite standard.

We must also recognise that the current model of a free house on a free-standing plot is unsustainable. Once we acknowledge this, it is possible to think of alternatives that are fairer, more equitable and more affordable. A combination of fresh thinking, bold policy decisions and good implementation is required to enable the state to play the appropriate role in providing opportunities for people to lift themselves out of poverty. We are committed to working together with all spheres of government and all political parties, to find appropriate solutions to this most complex of public policy challenges.

- Politicsweb

Mayor beefs up security detail for service delivery walkabout

A day after being smacked by an angry resident during a surprise visit to troubled Blikkiesdorp, Mayor Dan Plato was again meeting residents in an impoverished corner of Cape Town, but this time with a beefed-up security detail.

Instead of jeers, his visit to areas in Philippi was greeted with indifference.

And despite this reporter witnessing the physical assault on him on Wednesday, Plato denied on Thursday he was ever "klapped" and said instead it was one of his bodyguards who had been smacked by a woman.

To a complaint from community leaders at a Brown's Farm hall that water had been switched off to some residents in the developed area of Brown's Farm, Plato said: "The city council does not switch off water, once people get their pink slips their water is put on a trickle system."

- Cape Times

Woman smacks mayor

On a surprise visit to the Blikkiesdorp transition camp in Delft, Mayor Dan Plato was smacked, cursed, sworn at and branded a liar by long-suffering, angry residents.

This after Plato angered them by dismissing their complaints of inhuman conditions by claiming it was "amongst the best" settlements.

He denounced some residents for "unfaithfulness and ungratefulness".

Attempting to enter a row of corrugated steel huts, Plato was stopped by a group of women who barricaded the entrance.

In an angry confrontation Plato was smacked by an incensed woman as his bodyguards intervened to get her off him.

The tussel lasted for a short while. Plato looked shocked and hurt but did not retaliate.

- Cape Argus, Times & IOL

Constitutional Court to make service delivery case judgement

The Constitutional Court will rule whether the government is obliged to provide sanitation and lighting to communities, even if they live in an informal settlement, when it sits in Johannesburg on Thursday.

The Harry Gwala informal settlement in Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg, believe it is entitled to the basics of taps and water, sanitation and lighting, in terms of the constitution.

The settlement is on the eastern edge of Wattville, Benoni, on the farm Rietfontein.

The settlers approached the High Court in Johannesburg for an order that the municipality install communal water taps, temporary sanitation facilities, refuse removal facilitation and high-mast lighting in key areas.

This, pending a decision by the local government and housing MEC on whether it should be upgraded to a formal township.

In August 2006, the municipality submitted a proposal for the township's upgrading to the MEC, but a decision has not yet been made.

The applicants argued in the High Court that the municipality was obliged, in terms of its statutory obligations, to provide the settlement with the basic services demanded.

The high court found that chapter 12 of the housing code did not apply because the emergency housing requirements, as defined in the chapter, were not present.

It furthermore held that chapter 13 of the housing code was only of application once a decision had been taken to upgrade an informal settlement.

The municipality accepted the obligation to provide communal water taps, which the court ordered.

The court dismissed the claim for sanitation services and high mast lighting.

The applicants contend that the high court failed to sufficiently recognise several constitutional and statutory provisions, but more specifically the right to adequate housing, provided for in section 26 of the constitution.

The MEC, the national minister of human settlements and the director-general of the national department of human settlements were joined in the matter.

The municipality contends that the constitutional and statutory provisions relied on by the applicants do not provide for an automatic right of every person, regardless of the circumstances, to receive the services demanded.

As far as sanitation is concerned, it states that it is able to provide one chemical toilet per 10 families.

In relation to high mast lighting, it submits that supply is dependent on permission being granted to connect to the Eskom grid, and that Eskom will not likely relax its policy that electricity not be provided to an area not proclaimed a formal township.

The MEC, the minister and director general said they would supplement the funds of the municipality in order to provide one chemical toilet per four households in the settlement.

They stress that this relief should not have general application and be restricted to the settlement only, as the respondents are not in a position to extend this solution to all similarly placed informal settlements.

They submit that this matter is unusual by reason of the inordinate delay in finalising the application for the upgrading of the settlement. - Business Report

Delivery protests peak in 2009

There has been a peak in service delivery protests this year, with Gauteng, the Western Cape, the North West and Mpumalanga the worst affected, a municipal hotspot monitor has found.

"By the end of October 2009, 83 major protests have been recorded," said Municipal IQ which collects the monitoring data and intelligence.

"This accounts for 44% of major protests recorded between 2004 and the end of October 2009," it said in a statement on Tuesday.

The monitor identified where service delivery protests took place since 2004, profiling the municipalities affected (down to the ward level) and their level of development compared to other municipalities, it said.

Expectations of work-seekers

The monitor found that almost half the protests occurred in metropolitan areas.

Protests took place in wards with higher unemployment rates than the both the municipal and national average, and those with worse access to services than municipal, but not national, average.

"These findings suggest that municipalities experiencing in-migration of work-seekers whose expectations are not met are the most susceptible to service delivery protests," it said.

This trend had probably been tipped by the recession and growing issues of inequality, especially where allegations of municipal maladministration and corruption fuelled community frustration.

"It is hoped that this assessment will highlight both successes and failures in the work of municipalities and in so doing, assist to improve local government delivery," Municipal IQ said. - SAPA

New digital system to improve service delivery - Zille

Western Cape Premier Helen Zille on Tuesday said corrupt and non-performing officials would be closely monitored in the province.

The premier launched an IT-based Dashboard Management System on Tuesday, which would allow her to keep tabs on progress made on development projects in the Western Cape.

Zille said she believed the new monitoring system would also help in identifying and tracking delays and problems on the projects.

She said the technology would also allow her and her MECs to monitor service delivery performance of various government departments.

The premier said she hoped to involve the community in future.

“Ultimately we’re hoping to open this to the public. Especially where we’ve got major public projects, such as... housing delivery projects. So the public can measure the progress of any project and see where we are in that process, and also give us feedback around what is working and what isn’t,” said Zille.

- Eyewitness News

Bishopscourt land deal challenged

A prominent Cape Town attorney is challenging a land restitution deal in the upmarket suburb of Bishopscourt.

The deal followed claims by former residents and their descendants of Protea Village, a coloured neighbourhood on the edge of Kirstenbosch, that was cleared in the apartheid era.

Attorney William Booth, a Bishopscourt resident, has asked the Land Claims Court to nullify an agreement which has already been signed by the minister of land affairs.

Forty-six of the Protea Village claimants have opted for financial compensation, of R17 500 each, but the remaining 86 want to be allowed to go back to live in the area.

The Land Claims Commission plans to settle most of them on Erf 242, owned by the state.

The rest are to be housed on Erf 212, a public open space known as the arboretum, which the City of Cape Town has apparently promised to hand over to the commission free of charge.

Booth, who lives in Winchester Avenue bordering on Erf 212, is supported in his challenge by a trust and a company which have properties in Bishopscourt Drive.

He said in papers that there was no indication that any of the claimants seeking restoration had ever lived on Erf 212. There had been a host of irregularities in the way the deal was handled, he said.

The minister of land affairs and the Western Cape land claims commissioner had acted unreasonably and beyond their powers, failed to apply their minds properly, and erred in law.

Booth said he and his co-applicants did not oppose the Protea Village land claim in principle, and had no objection to the claimants being restored to the Bishopscourt/Fernwood area.

However, the arboretum was a valuable public open space and had long been used as a recreational area by residents.

"It should remain as such an area, for the benefit of all surrounding residents, including any Protea Village claimants restored to Erf 242," he said. Erf 212 was by any realistic estimate worth "well over R70-million".

Senior counsel for the minister and commissioner Michael Donen said in heads of argument that following a public participation process, that the local residents' associations had supported the claim and had no objection to housing on Erf 212.

Booth and the other applicants "therefore stand alone in obstructing a constitutionally endorsed resolution", he said.

Donen said Protea Village residents had drawn water from a spring on Erf 21.

Argument in the matter began in the Land Claims Court in Cape Town yesterday.

- Cape Times

R1.3bn needed to rebuild badly constructed houses

IT would cost R1.3bn to rebuild badly constructed houses provided under the government’s housing programme, according to Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale.

“It’s a national shame. This is money down the drain. It is money that should have been spent on new houses,” Sexwale said during a visit to the Alphendale community in East London, where 339 poorly constructed houses have to be rebuilt. He laid the blame for the poor service delivery on corruption by construction companies and government officials.

“Wrong things are being done in the name of government,” he said.

“These are people we have entrusted with government jobs and government contracts, they are supposed to serve the people, but they are thieves. If you are corrupt, get out,” he said.

“We want to know who built these houses. We need to ask serious questions and bring people to book. We are going to fix the problem, but we are also going to fix the people who caused the problem.” “Where we are given knowledge and information you can trust us, we will act.” Sexwale introduced a National Audit Task Team charged with investigating irregularities in the housing system. It is led by Special Investigations Unit (SIU) head Willie Hofmeyr and a senior representative of the Auditor General’s office.

“We are working with the SIU because they have the power to investigate, but they also have the power to institute criminal and civil action,” Sexwale explained.

“But they don’t work alone. They are also working with the office of the Auditor General, which is in charge of looking at all our books, to check how we spend money.” The team is already investigating 20 projects, 1 of which is Alphendale.

- BusinessDay - News Worth Knowing

Housing delivery won’t happen overnight - Madikizela

Western Cape Housing MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela says his department has been trying to clean up the mess as left behind by Thubelisha Homes.

Thubelisha Homes were contracted by government to manage the N2 Gateway Project.

Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts, two months ago found glaring defects in the quality of the homes that were built by Thubelisha.

The provincial government, under the leadership of the Democratic Alliance, has since restarted the project which will be run by the Housing Development Agency.

Madikizela said residents would have to be patient because they were in a process of picking up the pieces Thubelisha left behind.

“In every community that I go to, it’s a message that I preach because I’m also not the kind of person who likes to make promises because I know that this will take a while. It’s not going to be solved overnight. We would really like to appeal to the community to be patient,” said Madikizela.

- Eyewitness News

Zille addressing housing concerns in Brooklyn

Western Cape Premier Helen Zille says social housing developments are crucial to addressing the province’s housing backlog.

She was speaking at the sod-turning ceremony for a new social housing initiative in Brooklyn.

The project will comprise of 219 housing units aimed at low income earners.

The R75m Social Housing Project in Brooklyn is a collaboration between all three spheres of government and social development partners.

Zille said the province could not continue to build low density housing units that took up a lot of land.

She said one of the potential downfalls of such schemes was the existing culture of entitlement to free housing with many beneficiaries unwilling to pay even a minimal rental.

- Eyewitness News

Cape Town gets R75m housing boost

Western Cape Housing MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela said on Monday the province needed to partner with private institutions more often in order to deliver cost effective housing.

The City of Cape Town, Communicare and the national and provincial housing departments launched a R75 million social housing project in Brooklyn on Monday.

The city and the province contributed R22 million to the project, while Communicare and a Dutch company also donated money.

Once the project is completed, 219 units would be rented out to low income earners.

Madikizela said social housing amounted to more than just building homes.

“Social housing also contributes to our goal of developing sustainable human settlements that are spatially, socially and economically integrated into our city,” said Madikizela - Eyewitness News