Admin
10 Apr, 2025
City of Cape Town must urgently deliver on 12-year-old housing promise to Masonwabe Hostel families
Statement by Bongani Maqungwana, Councillor in the City of Cape Town The United Democratic Movement (UDM) in the City of Cape Town is deeply disappointed by the City’s failure to honour its promise to the families living at the Masonwabe Temporary Relocation Area in Gugulethu. It has been 12 long years since these families were moved from the old Masonwabe Hostel in 2013. At the time, they were told the relocation was only temporary while the City fixed the unsafe and crumbling hostel. But the hostel was demolished, the land stands empty while the City says there are no immediate plans to move these families into proper permanent housing. This is nothing short of abandonment, how can a temporary solution last for 12 years with no end in sight? These families are living in cold, unsafe structures, children are growing up in tin shacks surrounded by crime, mice and followed by neglect. Masonwabe now has over 130 structures, far more than the original 80 families who were moved in. Families have grown but their homes have not. Many are forced to extend their small units with scrap materials just to survive. It is unacceptable that the City of Cape Town has even failed to communicate clearly with the affected families, and no proper maintenance is being done on those dilapidated temporary structures despite people still living in them. The City refers to these homes as part of “incremental development,” yet offers no real plan or timeline for permanent housing. These families were promised back in 2013 that they would return to a redeveloped Masonwabe site. Today, that promise has been forgotten as the land lies empty while hundreds of people suffer in substandard conditions nearby. The UDM in the City of Cape Town, demands the City: • Immediately engages with the Masonwabe community to provide a clear update. • Commits to a fixed timeline for the development of permanent housing on the original site • Ensures the safety and maintenance of the current structures while people are still living there. Stop treating vulnerable communities like they don’t matter. Gugulethu people deserves dignity not, delays nor empty promises, promises must be delivered.
Admin
14 Oct, 2016
UDM shocked by the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements
The United Democratic Movement (UDM) is shocked and disappointed by the state of affairs within the Gauteng Human Settlements Department, where more than R900 million is being withdrawn by Treasury, after the Department had apparently, amongst other things, failed to and/or unlawfully spent the budget. The withdrawal of the funds, meant for the creation of sustainable and integrated human settlement, clearly shows that the Department is incapable of delivery to our suffering people. Housing is one of the key factors that impact on the dignity of our people and their quality of life, but we have servants in the government sector who don’t take their mandate seriously and spend money unlawfully. As a result of these kinds of failures the public has, out of desperation, taken to the streets in protest to demand houses. UDM calls for the Department to be placed under administration and that Treasury should conduct an investigation into the matter. Those who are found to be on the wrong side of the law must be brought to book. Statement issued by: Ms Thandi Nontenja UDM National Treasurer
Admin
15 Jul, 2014
Budget Vote 31 – Human Settlement (MTEF 2014)
– Contribution made by UDM Member of Parliament, Ms CN Majeke, in the National Assembly Honourable Chairperson Minister and Deputy Minister Honourable Members The United Democratic Movement (UDM) welcomes the strategic thrust of the policy statement by the Minister as captured in her foreword of the departmental five year strategic annual performance plans 2014/19. We believe that there can be a working relationship between the provision of houses as a basic shelter, quality accommodation and shorter delivery turnaround time. The delivery of houses through community based cooperatives as an option will make a significant intervention in creating job opportunities, transfer skills to communities whilst creating value to property ownership. UDM support community housing building programmes. Housing policy should also be located within the larger economic strategy as one mechanism of creating jobs towards combating and eradicating homelessness and poverty. Ownership of houses without jobs has proven to be unsustainable and sometimes destructive as owners tend to either sell or rent them out in exchange for a short term relief from hunger. The commitment of the Minister to “decent accommodation” is well appreciated, as UDM we believe that houses ought to be a shelter, enough to accommodate a family. This means, future human settlements should enable communities to find and or create jobs and get access to social services within their area so that we can create communities that are economically viable and self-reliant. The performance and service delivery information is raising a number of issues some of which we are concerned with and in this regard, we invite the honourable Minister to take action on those matters. Amongst those is the reported low performance by the Eastern Cape and Limpopo provinces which have high housing backlog both for urban and rural communities. Statistics shows that the backlog on sanitation is largely accounted for by rural areas, in this regard; the department cannot afford to under spend on the Rural Housing Infrastructure Grant. Traditional leaders as role players in the housing sector must be brought closer to this process and avoid repeated under expenditure when services are desperately needed by communities. The municipal human settlement capacity programme should come as a mitigating factor in the increasing substance and travel expenditure. In the same vein, the projected increase on compensation of employees for the financial season 2014/15 to 2016/17 must reverse the increase on consultants and professional expenditure as reported under programme 3. This means the department must as it reduces vacancies, targets technical skills, amongst others, to provide the required technical assistance provided to the 53 municipalities. Programme four expenditure will require dedicated monitoring and evaluation with early warning systems and we hope the Minister will ensure that such transfers are used within a specified financial season for intended purposes. Thank you
