Compiled by the Government Communication and Information System---------------------------------------------------------------Date: 11 Jun 2008Title: Mpumalanga exceeds housing target-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------By Thandy NdlovuNelspruit - Mpumalanga's Housing Department built 12 320 low-cost houses last year, exceeding their target of 8 583 units for the 2007/8 financial year.Housing MEC Candith Mashego-Dlamini in her 2008/09 budget speech said this year her department would be focusing on completing the 10 436 houses that were abandoned by shoddy contractors.
No new low-cost housing projects will be started this year, she said.The department will also address the problem of poor quality houses built during the apartheid years before 1994."These houses are falling apart. We have set aside R2.4 million to assess such houses in the Umjindi, Emalahleni, Steve Tshwete and Lekwa municipalities. "After the assessment, we will cost the work to be done and budget for their rehabilitation in the next financial year.
"The 300 houses which were built between 1994 and 2002, will be repaired in the Umjindi, Mbombela, Dipaliseng, Emalahleni, Thembisile, Dr JS Moroka and Steve Tshwete municipalities, she added.The department will also build 1 677 houses this year through the People's Housing Process at a cost of R72.1 million and 500 through the Rural Housing Programme at a cost of R23 million.The People's Housing Process encourages people to help build their own homes by establishing housing cooperatives. The government provides subsidies for the houses, while other organisations offer technical, financial, logistical and administrative help."We would like to call upon the communities to cooperate with the appointed support organisations to make this programme a success," the MEC said.The Rural Housing Programme seeks to provide shelter for rural dwellers and enables rural women to own houses in their own names."Through this programme, the beneficiaries may decide collectively to opt for other services needed, other than housing," MEC Mashego-Dlamini explained.
This year, 500 units for the Rural Housing Programme will be built in the Mbombela, Bushbuckridge, Nkomazi, Dr JS Moroka and Albert Luthuli municipalities.Another 340 houses will be built for farm workers at a cost of R16 million for farm workers in the Mbombela, Nkomazi, Thaba Chweu, Umjindi, Govan Mbeki, Lekwa, Msukaligwa, Delmas, Emalahleni and Steve Tshwete local municipalities."The relevant communities have been extensively consulted and as soon as the approvals are in place, contractors will be appointed for the construction of the houses," she said.MEC Mashego-Dlamini acknowledged that housing delivery remained slow, but that housing chapters had been established in municipalities to speed up the process. The department has set aside R5 million to help municipalities fully develop the housing chapters within their Integrated Development Plans.She said 440 hostel units will also be converted into community residential units this year that can be rented in Kwa Guqa, Sakhile and Mzinoni. Similar conversions are being planned for next year for hostels in Mashishing (formerly Lydenburg), Emgwenya, Emthonjeni and Phola in Ogies.Veterans of the liberation struggle have also been captured on a database compiled by the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and their particulars are being verified to determine housing needs.Meanwhile, relief assistance is being offered in the form of housing subsidies for families who lost their homes in disasters such as fires and storms. Some 283 families are being helped in Thembisile municipal area, 178 in the Albert Luthuli municipal area, 86 in the Govan Mbeki municipal area, 81 in the Mbombela municipal area and 522 in the Bushbuckridge municipal area. - BuaNews
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