The department of Human Settlements will construct 97 houses for the Military Veterans in the province in this financial year. The project which is expected to commence in few months, was revealed during the Military Veterans Housing Programme Project Steering Committee meeting held in Mahikeng recently.

The department of Human Settlements is responsible to house the military veterans in line with the Military Veterans Act. This meeting is further held to update on the performance of the Province in implementing the programme. The province has had zero percent housing delivery for the Military Veterans, allocation of stands by Municipalities, bulk infrastructure and state of readiness amongst other challenges since 2020.

The said challenge is a great concern to Jacky Mamabolo, the Deputy Director of People’s Housing Project and military veterans from the National Department of Human Settlements. Mamabolo expressed his concern during his presentation about the poor performance of the department dating back for the past two years due to Covid-19 pandemic and other administrative challenges.

He urged the Province to put military veterans projects at the helm in the new financial year, as it has identified such projects as one of the priority projects that can be immediately implemented as part of the recovery plan in the 2022/2023 Financial Year.

Mamabolo further advised the department to ensure that it implement the projects that meet the requirements and specification of military housing project, as he emphasized the importance of proper planning. “This will avoid putting the projects that are not ready for implementation on the Business Plan and thus painting a negative picture when such projects cannot kick start. As a result, this would affect service delivery as planned targets would not be met,” he added.

According to Orapeleng Tabile, the Provincial Coordinator for the Military Veterans Housing Programme, the department acknowledges the challenges experienced for the period under review. This however, he said is informed by various setbacks which includes unavailability of serviced stands where approved beneficiaries should be build houses; unavailability of geotechnical investigation reports for the areas or villages where construction of houses must happen. He however, said that it is worth noting that the Department has managed to fast track the appointment of a contractor in Moses Kotane Local Municipality where six houses will be build for approved beneficiaries. The process of contractor’s appointment is also at an advanced stage for Ganyesa and Lethabong in Rustenburg.

“The department is working closely with the Department of Military Veterans on a strategy to communicate with the military veterans who qualify for housing to avoid miscommunications and lack of feedback from the department, as well as to update them on developments in terms of the housing project,” said Tabile.

The both the department of Human Settlements as well as that of Military Veterans warned those posing as military veterans, applying for houses in municipalities to refrain. Both departments agreed that a list of legible beneficiaries is recorded by the DMV and are aware of those fraud stars masquerading as former members. DMV further assured military veterans members that a further audit to verify qualification of those who are legible will be done. The Steering Committee sits on a quarterly basis to discuss the implementation of the Military Veterans Housing Programme.

Contact person: Director: Media and Communication, Dineo Lolokwane

Source: Government of South Africa