Mashatile ready speedup housing backlog
Communities still waiting to benefit from the City of Joburg Social Housing Development projects.
MEC for Human Settlement Paul Mashatile visited Dobsonville last week to address the issue of housing allocation for senior citizens.
Addressing a fully packed Kopanong Hall, MEC Mashatile emphasised the importance of prioritising senior citizens in their next housing allocation and for those who applied for RDP house in 1996 and 1997.
“Construction of houses in Lufhereng stopped two years ago because the area is dolomite. We realised that houses to be built in Lufhereng needed a special type of foundation. Now we are back, the construction of houses in Lufhereng will start with 200 houses soon,” said Mashatile.
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He said people who could afford to build their own houses will be allocated a site to commence with their own construction.
Mashatile said those who will be allocated sites will be given title deeds as soon as they are being given sites.
“We will allocate according to the wards, prioritising both the elderly and people with disabilities. We have 500 houses in Fleurhof readily available for occupation but they do not have electricity.
“We will also be building another 800 houses again in Fleurhof. There are illegal occupants in Fleurhof who will soon be evicted and rightful owners will then occupy those houses,” said MEC Mashatile.
He reminded residents that Fleurhof RDP houses are flats, so when they start with their allocation process the senior citizens will occupy the bottom houses due to their inability to climb the stars.
Mashatile said they have also allocated an area where residents will perform their rituals due to limited availability of land in the area.
“We also have the South Hills housing development taking place. People should at least stay a maximum of 1 year before they can be handed their title deeds.
“The housing project in Doornkop will be revived soon, but only 700 houses will be built in the area. We will also build flats to maximise the allocation of more people,” said Mashatile.
He said people from Meadowlands will be allocated their RDP houses in Fleurhof, people from Tshepisong will be allocated their RDP houses in Tshepisong.
Mashatile added that they have established a housing committee aimed at eradicating the hostels.
He said the committee is tasked with the mandate to build RDP houses and flats at the hostels across the province.
Mashatile warned that there is a task team that deals with the land invasion taking place in many parts of Gauteng.
