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July 2015
News
C
ontractors recentlydemolished
the remains of the ‘Little House
on the Prairie’, a notorious drug
den in Belhar, to make way for an ur-
banmulti-purpose mixed use centre.
The City of Cape Town-owned
property has been the subject of
a near decade-long legal battle to
evict the occupants. “This is a truly
significant milestone in our battle to
reclaim City-owned properties. The
Little House on the Prairie has a his-
tory as one of the most problematic
sites in the city, butweperseveredand
eventuallywrestled the property from
‘Little House’ demolished
for urban centre
T
he department recently held
workshops in the Ngaka Modiri
Molema and Bojanala Platinum
District Municipalities to enforce a
zero tolerance against shoddy work in
housing projects. NHBRC’s Provincial
Manager, Sifiso Ntsizwane said that
capacitating housing inspectors and
other stakeholderswill ensuredelivery
of qualityhouses toBokoneBophirima
communities. It is important that the
NHBRC, municipalities and govern-
ment work coherently to make this a
reality.”
Theworkshopshelped toclarify the
rolesand responsibilitiesof thedepart-
ment, NHBRCandmunicipalities in re-
lation to the inspections being carried
out on housing infrastructure projects
andhowtheycanbe improved. Inspec-
tors also raised their concerns and
mentioned the challenges that they
Housing inspectors
A
total of 17 of the 24 Munici-
palities (71%) in the Western
Cape received clean audits,
compared to 13 of the 50 munici-
palities (26%) in KwaZulu-Natal;
and four of the 10 municipalities
(40%) in Gauteng, which included
the Democratic Alliance led Midvaal
Municipality.
Kevin Mileham, Democratic Alli-
ance ShadowMinister of Cooperative
Governance and Traditional Affairs
says the Auditor General’s report
shows that the DA is best at running
local government. “We believe gov-
ernment can and should be more
responsive to the needs of the people.
We believe it can bemore transparent
and accountable to those it serves,
and that it can be more efficient in
delivering services. Wherewe govern,
our service delivery records and gov-
ernance outcomes show that we are
committed to spending publicmoney
Clean audits for province
TheDemocraticAlliance-runWesternCapeProvincehasonceagaintopped
thelistofprovinceswiththenumberofmunicipalitiesreceivingcleanaudits,
with zero adverse, disclaimers or qualifiedwith findings.
in the interest of the people and that
we have the capacity to deliver.”
Mileham is concerned about the
fruitless and wasteful expenditure
noted in the Auditor General’s report:
R687 million was incurred by 250
auditees, an improvement from the
R860million incurred by 222 auditees
in the previous year.
Mileham concludes, “The fact of
the matter is that if a municipality
cannot manage its finances prop-
erly, it cannot deliver the essential
services the people need.”
■
experienced when visiting sites.
Alfonso Manuel, Acting Chief Di-
rector of Housing Development from
the North West Department of Local
Government andHumanSettlements,
told inspectors that the quality of the
houses rests in their hands, so it is im-
perative that they do not compromise
on the quality.
■
the hands of the occupants,” said the
City’s ExecutiveMayor, PatriciadeLille.
The City’s Safety and Security Di-
rectorate has secured funding of R12
million via the Urban Settlements
Development Grant for the feasibility
study, planning and construction of
the new facility, due for completion in
June 2017.
City’s Mayoral Committee Member
for Safety and Security, Jean-Pierre
Smith said that a deployment centre
will be locatedonthesiteandwill serve
neighbouring suburbs and informal
settlements.
■
TheBokoneBophirimaDepartment
of Local Government and Human
Settlements, in partnership with
the National Home Builders
Registration Council (NHBRC), has
embarkedon an intensive housing
inspectors programme.