No action taken or budget available to address asbestos roofing in Eastern Cape
December 18th, 2020
The Eastern Cape has at least 5 463 RDP houses that still have asbestos roofing, despite the Department of Human Settlements having had 26 years to remove it, as all these houses were built prior to 1994. Despite the known health risks that the asbestos in these structures pose to our communities, including severe respiratory diseases and cancer, the Department of Human Settlements has failed to put a plan in …
Read More
Urgent investigation into procurement of temporary structures needed
September 11th, 2020 The Democratic Alliance is calling for an urgent investigation into the procurement of temporary structures by the Department of Human Settlements in the Eastern Cape. These temporary structures were procured through deviation and without a competitive bidding process This was revealed in a response to a parliamentary question from the DA to MEC of Human Settlements, Nonkqubela Pieters. In the response MEC Pieters said 15 suppliers had been appointed through …
Read More
Millions wasted on rectification of houses already built
August 19th, 2020 The Eastern Cape Department of Human Settlements is spending millions on fixing sub-standard houses built by contractors that clearly should not be doing business with the State. In his state of the province address at the beginning of the year, Premier Oscar Mabuyane made it clear that the Department should not be paying contractors to fix newly built houses. This message does not seem to have been received by the …
Read More
Florida Heights Housing Project raises red flags
December 9th, 2019 The Florida Heights Housing Project in Nelson Mandela Bay raises a number of red flags, and the Democratic Alliance will be keeping a close watch on the development. The November 25th letter from former Mayor Mongameli Bobani which was sent to the developer, William Charles of Sakhisizwe Renewable Energy, committed the municipality to immediately pay R36,4 million of the R100 million set aside for the project. The letter states: “The …
Read More
Grave error to cost Nelson Mandela Bay R24-million, for starters
August 29th, 2019 The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality will have to fork out R24-million from its Urban Settlement Development Grant (USDG) for the re-planning of Soweto on Sea. This follows the shocking revelation that some houses in the area were built on top of burial sites and that the houses built are of appalling quality. The MEC for Human Settlements, Nonkqubela Pieters, has said in a parliamentary response that once the re-planning has …
Read More
Another toilets in the veld scandal
February 1st, 2019
ANC toilets a monument to failed service delivery Along the outskirts of Ward 7, in Great Kei Municipality, more than 500 toilets scatter the area, a prevailing symbol of the ANC’s failed service delivery. This is another toilets in the veld scandal, just like the R12-million spent on 1,140 toilets in the veld outside Komga, and the R630-million Siyenza toilet scandal. Everyone seems to be benefitting from toilet contracts, except …
Read More
Qunu City project scrapped after millions spent on consultants
November 9th, 2018 The dream that the peaceful village of Qunu, the home of Nelson Mandela, would be developed into a state-of-the-art city, has been scrapped, five years after the initiation of the project that has cost the tax payers tens of millions, with nothing to show for it. This is money that could have been spent on addressing the massive housing backlog and building houses for the poor! Initiated in 2012 by …
Read More
Illegal occupation of RDP houses in BCM a ticking time bomb
October 25th, 2018
The Eastern Cape Department of Human Settlements needs to come clean and state clearly what investigation, if any, will be conducted into the alleged illegal occupation of 116 houses by residents in Vergenoeg, East London. A parliamentary response from the MEC for Human Settlements, Mlungisi Mvoko, reveals that no formal investigations have taken place to verify whether the correct beneficiaries have occupied the houses. To view the response, please click here: Response …
Read More
Failing ANC’s Title Deeds Restoration Project neglects elderly and disabled
October 11th, 2018 A recent response received from the MEC for Human Settlements, Mlungisi Mvoko, reveals that over R1 billion has been spent on the Title Deeds Restoration Project over the 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19 financial years yet not a single title deed was handed over to elderly beneficiaries during the 2017/18 and the 2018/19 financial years. To view the response, please click here: Response Disabled beneficiaries have not received title deeds over …
Read More
Vacant houses being illegally occupied, vandalised while department shifts the blame
September 4th, 2018
Throughout the Eastern Cape, beneficiaries have been forced to stand by and watch as houses that they have been waiting decades for stand empty and are vandalised, while the Department shifts the blame. In response to a parliamentary question, Human Settlements MEC, Mulungisi Mvoko, has stated that the Department refuses to spend money on repairing any houses that have been vandalised due to non-occupation. Instead, Mvoko insists that it is …
Read More
For an archive on all articles relating to Sanele Magaqa, please click here