City responds to Rotary Sports Grounds housing ‘debacle’ in Alex
ALEXANDRA – The City of Johannesburg has responded to the South African Communist Party over the housing development at the Rotary Grounds.
The City of Johannesburg has responded to complaints by residents over what they perceive as a ‘failure to consult’ them over the housing development currently going on at the Rotary Sports Grounds in Alexandra next to KwaMadala Hostel.
Residents of the hostel and the surrounds, together with the South African Communist Party (SACP), have accused the City of unilaterally implementing the housing project without consulting them.
This infuriated the residents as the grounds form part of the much-needed recreational sporting activities, not just for hostel dwellers but the entire community of Alexandra and in particular the schools that use the grounds for extra-mural activities.
But the acting executive director in the City’s Department of Housing, Patrick Phophi denies the allegations, claiming they consulted widely with councillors in the township and that they were still willing to engage with other interested parties and residents.
“It is true that the Department of Housing of the City of Johannesburg has appointed its entity, the Johannesburg Social Housing Company, to build top units within Alexandra Ext 26 [an area used by the Rotary sports facility] through Section 76 of the Municipal Systems Act.
“The programme as conceived by the department is implemented in line with the Emergency Housing Programme contained in the National Housing Code of 2009,” Phophi said in a statement sent to Alex News.
He added that while the department was aware of the developmental challenges in Alexandra, it had initiated a process to engage stakeholders through ward councillors.
“In short, the ward councillors of greater Alexandra were engaged during April/May 2020, followed by a number of sessions with individual councillors in wards 75, 91, 108, and 109.”
The department, through its project managers and programme managers, had since established a Project Steering Committee as a vehicle that drove the development in the four wards, he added.
“It is our view that participation [or consultation] can either be implemented through invited and invented form. It is for this reason that as a department, we commit to engaging with any structure that represents the community in any space/area.”
