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June 2015
News
T
he City of Cape Town has rolled
our 104newsocial housingunits
with the Western Cape govern-
ment and the City’s social housing
partner, Madulammoho.
These units form part of 500 so-
cial housing units at the Scottsdene
Rental Estate Project, a joint initiative
with the national and Western Cape
government.
TheCityhas providedR53million in
institutional subsidy funding towards
this project and contributed land at a
discountedratetomaketheprojectfea-
sible and to provide rental accommo-
dation to residents from lower income
groups. Thisproject isbudgetedatover
R157 million including State funding,
with R110 million spent so far.
Through this project, the City is
able to provide affordable rental ac-
commodation to lowincome residents
who earn less than R3 500 per month
as well as households who earn less
than R7 500 per month.
In total, 500 fully subsidised social
housing units will be rolled out by
December 2015. Almost 232 units
have been allocated to beneficiaries
from Scottsdene and the surrounding
areas. This includes 104 families who
received their keys over the past few
weeks. “Having access to affordable
housing is one of the ways in which
the City aims to create opportunities.
Affordable housing is key to empow-
ering our previously disadvantaged
residents and to the transformation of
our city in general,’ said the City’sMay-
oral Committee Member for Human
Settlements, Benedicta van Minnen.
The Scottsdene Rental Estate is
within close proximity to transport
nodes, schools, recreational facilities,
churches andeconomicopportunities.
Security features include 24-hour
manned security, clear-view fenc-
ing and access control via biometric
fingerprint technology. Provision has
also been made for a well-designed
and fully maintained garden.
TheCity looks forward todelivering
the remainder of the social housing
units to the rest of the beneficiaries
later this year.
■
Scottsdene social housing units
T
he members of the commis-
sion were appointed in 2010
for a period of five years which
NPC call for
nominations
expired at the end of May 2015. The
President thanked the commission-
ers for a sterling job done over the
past five years, the highlight of which
was the successful finalisation of the
country’sNational Development Plan.
He paid particular tribute to the Com-
mission’s first chairperson, former
Minister in the Presidency, Trevor
Manuel and its former deputy chair-
person and now Deputy President
of the Republic, Cyril Ramaphosa,
for successfully leading the NPC and
ensuring its phenomenal success.
Zuma also thanked theMinister for
Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation,
Jeff Radebe, the Chairperson of the
National Planning Commission, who
has the responsibility of ensuring
that the National Development Plan
is implemented in government. The
Minister is also tasked with promot-
ing the NDP’s implementation across
all sectors.
The outgoing Commission pre-
sented its close-out report to the
President outlining the work it has
done over the past five years and
what still needs to be done by the in-
comingmembers of the Commission.
As one of its final contributions, the
Commission is finalising a discussion
document on planning. This docu-
ment draws on the Commission’s
experience over the past five years,
as well as international experiences
to put forward a set of recommenda-
tions on how government planning
should be done. Whereas the NDP
focussed on defining the strategic
direction for the country and setting
goals and priorities, this document
deals with the nuts and bolts of plan-
ning. The discussion document will
bemade publicly available during the
month of May 2015.
The implementation of the NDP is
supported by the Medium Term Stra-
tegic Framework (MTSF) which has
been adopted by government and is
currently under implementation. The
Department of Planning, Monitoring
and Evaluation is overseeing the plan
and reports to Cabinet.
Minister Radebe has called for
nominations for the newNPC, whose
members are appointed by the Presi-
dent. An announcement will bemade
in due course once all the processes
have been completed.
■
President Jacob Zuma held a
final meeting to receive a report
and bid farewell to the outgoing
members of the first National
Planning Commission (NPC).