The MMC for Human Settlements, Cllr Anthea Leitch, on Monday handed over keys to historical stock of RDP units during a heartfelt ceremony attended by Executive Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda.
The two political heads were joined by Ward 70 Councillor Caleb Finn and various dignitaries, the Region C regional director, the executive director for human settlements and the appointed developer, Calgro M3, with its subsidiary, Fleurhof Extension 2.
In her address, MMC Leitch provided some background on the project. Its inception dates back to 2011 and the key handover marked the culmination of recent persistent efforts to overcome obstacles that had long stood in the way of allocating beneficiaries to their homes.
During this phase of allocations, more than 50 beneficiaries are being moved into their units, with more than 100 to follow shortly thereafter.
The MMC said: “This was, quite literally, a ground-breaking project that first started being considered in 2008 for what we now call BNGs, which stands for Breaking New Ground. This is the updated approach to building RDP units as part of sectional title walk-up buildings instead of free-standing units. This allows us to provide more housing in a particular urban area.
“That is because we need densification, as free land is scarce and expensive in Johannesburg. Maintenance of these buildings, however, becomes a communal responsibility. People are also not able to build extensions on to their units, since they have no free-standing yard.”
She encouraged the units’ new owners to understand that they would need to form body corporates and together look after their shared yards and other communal areas, such as the passages.
“The old approach of building RDPs was deemed to be unsustainable and inefficient and the BNG model was considered as a way for government to partner with the private sector to address the housing challenge more expansively.
“The Fleurhof Extension 2 township was approved by the City’s Development Planning department in 2009, with residential space envisioned along with sites for schools, creches, religious sites, businesses, industry, community areas and cultural villages and a hostel.”
She explained that walk-up units were agreed upon in 2010 as a way to deliver 6,000 units, 2,000 of which would be RDPs and the rest divided between social housing, community residential units and affordable rental units.
“The city expects to ultimately deliver more than 14,000 housing opportunities in various forms from this Fleurhof project and a further 8,000 residential opportunities are also on the cards once the mine dumps to the West of Fleurhof Drive have been reclaimed and rehabilitated.”
The MMC acknowledged the numerous challenges that had faced this development, including rocky terrain, requiring blasting and crushing. The development had also suffered from community unrest, strikes, the invasion of units and vandalism.
“There are many other factors that have contributed to other delays, but we are not here today to linger on that, except to recognise that it has taken unusually long to finalise the handover of units to beneficiaries.
“That is why we take being here today so seriously. I do not want unfinished business to continue to linger during my term as MMC. I want to see the delivery of historical projects and the city moving forward bravely to deliver much more for the future.
Being here today represents our ability to overcome some of the biggest obstacles preventing us from moving beneficiaries into these units.”
The executive mayor, in his remarks, pointed to the occasion as an example of the Government of Local Unity delivering on its mandate to develop and improve the City of Johannesburg. He described MMC Leitch as one of the hardest-working and courageous MMCs in the city, while recognising all his MMCs as individuals who “pull their weight”.
The mayor threw his weight behind the MMC’s pledge to erase all historical backlogs in the city when it comes to allocations and that he would continue to attend as many such events as he could.
Six households participated in the handover ceremony and the mayor and MMC accompanied the new owners to their respective units, as they experienced the joy of turning their own keys in their own doors at last, and for the first time in their lives.
The MMC was pleased to note the evident diversity among the RDP recipients and called for this to continue, since social need is not limited to any one group.
She expressed her gratitude to all those involved in making this day possible, including government officials, community leaders, development partners and, most importantly, the beneficiaries themselves.
INFO SUPPLIED.
