Over and above the existing Zanemvula project, the HDA recently took responsibility for all human settlement projects in the Nelson Mandela Bay metro municipality.
The HDA has grasped the complexities of the various projects and has cut across various sectors to ensure alignment and that institutional arrangements are in place as part of its new implementation role.
On 30 November 2015, Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, Executive Mayor of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality (NMBMM), Danny Jordaan and NMBMM council members handed over houses in Walmer Q in Port Elizabeth – one of the agency’s new projects. The event marked the launching of the first human settlement project in the area since cabinet approved the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Support Programme. Walmer Q had recently been home to fierce service delivery protests. This resulted in the NDHS establishing a national support programme and appointing the HDA to fast-track the delivery of 189 in-situ housing units for 756 families.
Addressing the community and the contractors, Sisulu said, “Our people have been waiting for far too long. Failing them is not an option.” The Minister also appealed to contractors to “involve the Youth in the construction of their houses – let them also get jobs and skills”.
Minister Sisulu also presided over the welcoming ceremony of 100 Youth Brigade graduates who are residents of Walmer. These youngsters had previously been sitting at home, unemployed and out of school. Through the HDA they will now be placed in various housing projects within the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro and part of an “investment in the future our country,” said the minister. “I’m handing over these young people to the HDA for more training,” she added.
As part of the visit to Nelson Mandela Bay, Minister Sisulu handed over the first of 491 houses built in Chatty – also an HDA-managed project – to a 60-year-old military veteran, Shadrack Merile. Merile is one of many destitute military veterans across the country.
