COSATU Norther Cape statement on the launch of the provincial R1 billion housing project
17 January 2024
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in the Northern Cape notes the announcement of the launch of a housing project worth R1 billion by President Cyril Ramaphosa this coming Thursday, the 18th of January 2024.
The Federation welcomes the intention and hopes that the project will eradicate the housing backlog and address the spatial residential arrangement in the province. We call on both the provincial and national governments to put stringent measures in place to help combat any manifestation of corrupt activities during implementation and to ensure that proper monitoring and evaluation processes for accounting purposes.
We are however concerned about the area where these houses are intended to be built, especially in Kimberley (Roodepan area) given the fact that, most of the houses that were recently built in the same Roodepan area are already falling apart. We hope that the government employed preventive measures to avert the recurrence of the same costly mistake.
Another concern is the distance between the residential area and Kimberley City where most of the people work. The transport expenses to and from work are major costs taking a bigger chunk of the disposable income of workers who must scuffle with low wages and are already in deep financial distress.
The Federation is also extremely concerned about the government’s delay to implement a project that was previously approved for building an additional 12,800 houses for recipients who do not qualify for government funded houses nor mortgage bonds because of high property prices in Kimberley. We demand answers from the Premier and Sol Plaatje Municipality, especially because according to the plan, the project would see 22 000 people employed in brick manufacturing, infrastructure development and many other economic activities right from initial commissioning.
COSATU will therefore stage a picketing during the launch and demand to speak to the president about all these concerns since we have explored all other avenues seeking answers, but all our efforts fell on deaf ears.
Issued by Orapeleng Moraladi, Northern Cape Provincial Secretary, COSATU, 17 January 2024
