A ministerial visit, which included the media, private sector representatives, community members and senior officials from all spheres of government, was held at Joe Slovo Phase 3 human settlement on Wednesday 9 May.
Click here to view the picture gallery.
The Minister of Human Settlements, Tokyo Sexwale, acknowledged the critical role played by the Housing Development Agency (HDA) in terms of land identification, and also as effective project managers, regarding the Agency’s good work undertaken collaboratively with different spheres of government.
Following a sunrise eTV broadcast, and a site walkabout and media briefing by Sexwale, the main event took place from 09h00.
After a welcome by City of Cape Town MAYCO member Councillor Ed Sonnenburg, Western Cape Premier Helen Zille and her MEC for Human Settlements Bonginkosi Madikizela addressed the meeting. Among her comments, Premier Zille recognised the role of the HDA in mobilising and delivering land.
Sexwale was keen to emphasise that this event did not mark the completion of Joe Slovo Phase 3 and said the project was scheduled to end in 2013. He said the final result should include the greening and paving of the entire area.
The Minister emphasised how this was a unique project. Not only had it arisen through the anger of local residents who did not wish to be moved to Delft (as per an original court ruling) but the project involved the Constitutional Court, which closely monitors the project’s progress.
The ruling mandated that residents of Joe Slovo informal settlements be accommodated in the project and this had necessitated the inclusion into the project of semi-detached houses and flats. The Minister was also pleased that more units were being built than mandated in the ruling.
The Minister’s visit was preceded by another ministerial visit earlier in the year when the Western Cape Minister of Human Settlements, Minister Bonginkosi Madikizela, Head of Department, Mr Mbulelo Ntshangana, Councillor Ernest Sonnenberg, Mayco Member for Human Settlements, and Daphne King, Head of Communication and Stakeholder Engagement for the City of Cape Town, along with members of the media – spent the day visiting the N2 Gateway projects on 27 February 2012.
The projects visited were Joe Slovo phase 3, Boystown, TRA 5 and 5.1 and Delft Symphony. According to Bosco Khoza, HDA Operations Manager, “It was a tiring, but rewarding day! It is gratifying that there are no stalled projects at this point. All the projects are delivering the much awaited units, including the historically fraught Boystown.”
