The North West Human Settlements department has committed to build 97 houses for the military veterans in the province.
The project, which is expected to start in a few months, was revealed during the Military Veterans Housing Programme Project Steering Committee meeting, held recently in Mahikeng.
The meeting was held to give an update on the province’s performance in implementing the programme.
Currently, the province has zero percent housing delivery for military veterans and the allocation of stands by the municipalities, including bulk infrastructure and state of readiness, are amongst other challenges experienced since 2020.
This was due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other administrative challenges.
In his presentation, Deputy Director of People’s Housing Project and military veterans from the national Department of Human Settlements, Jacky Mamabolo expressed concern about the poor performance of the department in the past two years.
Mamabolo urged the province to put military veterans’ projects at the helm in the new financial year. He noted that the department has identified such projects as one of the priority projects that can be implemented immediately, as part of the recovery plan in the 2022/2023 financial year.
He also advised the provincial department to ensure that it implements the projects that meet the requirements and specification of military housing project.
“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,” Mamabolo said.
Provincial Coordinator for the Military Veterans Housing Programme, Orapeleng Tabile, acknowledged the challenges experienced for the period under review.
He said this was informed by various setbacks, including unavailability of serviced stands where approved beneficiaries should build houses and the unavailability of geotechnical investigation reports for the areas or villages where construction of houses should happen.
Tabile also noted that the department has managed to fast track the appointment of a contractor in the Moses Kotane Local Municipality, where six houses would be constructed for approved beneficiaries.
He said the process of a 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 miscommunication and lack of feedback from the department, as well as to update them on developments in terms of the housing project,” said Tabile.
Meanwhile, the Departments of Human Settlements and Military Veterans have warned people posing as military veterans and applying for houses in municipalities to refrain from doing so.
The departments have also agreed that a list of legible beneficiaries be recorded by the Military Veterans Department.
Source: South African Government News Agency