Africa-Press – South-Africa. President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that R1 billion has been allocated to build around 4,000 houses across municipalities in the Northern Cape – with alliance partners raising their concerns about the project.
Expected to be completed over the next 12 to 18 months, the mega-project was launched by Ramaphosa in Kimberley on January 18, 2024, saying that it forms part of the government’s plan to “eradicate informal settlements and unsuitable housing structures.”
However, the 4,000 homes promised to be built in the province fall short of the almost 120,000 households in the Northern Cape awaiting assistance for adequate shelter.
The Department of Human Settlements is also currently battling the growing backlog of blocked or incomplete human settlement projects.
Ramaphosa said that the funds have been sourced from the Human Settlements Development Grant, and through the province approaching a loan facility of National Treasury and the Development Bank of Southern Africa.
Before the launch of the billion rand project, tripartite alliance partners of the ANC, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) raised numerous concerns – including the poor state of previously built government houses and thousands of incomplete housing projects in the province.
Despite showing initial support for the housing project, Cosatu said it is concerned “about the area where these houses are intended to be built, especially in Kimberley (Roodepan area) given the fact that most of the houses that were recently built in the same Roodepan area are already falling apart.”
“[Cosatu] is also extremely concerned about the government’s delay to implement a project that was previously approved for building an additional 12,800 houses for recipients who do not qualify for government-funded houses nor mortgage bonds because of high property prices in Kimberley,” said the union, slamming the stalled project for not fulfilling its promise of employing 22,000 workers from various sectors.
The union’s Northern Cape branch organised a picket during the president’s launch because “[they] have explored all other avenues seeking answers, but all our efforts fell on deaf ears.”
In response, Ramaphosa said at the launch: “We know that right here in Roodepan and in other parts of the municipality, there are social housing structures that were not built according to quality standards or are facing challenges with wastewater drainage and groundwater seepage – this will not be allowed to happen again.”
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