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Durban – KwaZulu-Natal has taken the first step to ease the backlog in the provision of low-cost RDP houses in the province by handing over one of its flagship programmes to needy beneficiaries.
On Friday, the MEC for Human Settlements and Public Works, Dr Ntuthuko Mahlaba, went to Umzumbe on the south coast of the province to hand over 1 000 units.
The four-room units are part of the uMzumbe cluster C rural housing project and the R89 million project covers four wards of the rural municipality.
The beneficiaries for the houses have already been identified and accordingly allocated their houses for occupation.
Delivering the project, Mahlaba said this was the beginning of a long journey to address the issues of housing backlog in the province.
According to official housing statistics, KwaZulu-Natal follows the province of Gauteng in terms of housing backlog. That has been attributed massive migration of people from other provinces.
Most of these people are looking for job opportunities and a better life in cities, but in turn, find themselves crammed in slums.
Mahlaba stated that it is in the Constitution that there should be housing and comfort for all. With comfort, he said, comes human dignity and decency.
“When the government comes to an area to build houses, the first thing is to grow the economy, secondly is to create job opportunities, and thirdly, to bring back the dignity of our people.
“I don’t shy away from declaring that I am a member of the ANC and it is a policy of the ANC that there shall be housing, comfort and security… it is our co-mandate that our people live in comfort and in safety,” Mahlaba said.
The opening of the programme comes as the province has already rebooted mothballed projects like Thubalethu in Melmoth. It stalled when there was bickering between the local municipality, which is run by the IFP, and the district municipality which was then run by the ANC.
The Thubalethu housing project is built in two phases and once finished, it is expected to turn the township of Thubalethu in Melmoth along the R66 into a mini town.
The first phase has 600 units and most of them are almost ready for occupation. The second phase will have 512 and the spade work has already been done.
The other housing projects that are already in the pipeline to be handed over to beneficiaries are found in Ndumo where there are 2 500 units, Madundube in Stanger where are there 2 565 units, and Ophuzane in Dumbe with 1500 units.
Current Affairs