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Showing posts from March, 2007

Cape Town housing crisis reaches new heights

Cape Town housing crisis reaches new heights Cape Town is a city where hundreds of thousands of people do not have proper homes and have little prospect of getting them, the Western Cape government says.They are young, unemployed and poor, and the situation is worse by the year, according to the province's housing plan, presented to the legislature's housing portfolio committee on Tuesday.Some of the shocking points which emerged from housing applications were: With an annual growth rate of only one percent, the city's housing backlog was expected to reach 460 000 by 2020. 'We do not want to create an impression there is an absolute lack of capacity' If R1-billion was spent every year on building houses, the demand for formal housing would only be met by 2033. If R500-million was spent annually, the demand for site and services only would be met by 2017. Fifty-one percent of applicants lived in shacks, 31 percent in backyards and 12 percent shared homes with other p

IOL: Cape shacklands mushroom to 240

IOL: Cape shacklands mushroom to 240 The number of informal settlements in the City of Cape Town has mushroomed to 240, with more than half a million people crammed into about 110 000 self-made shacks.The number of shacks is a 10 percent increase since 2005.And of the 240 settlements, only 89 can be upgraded into formal housing.This is the stark reality of the challenge facing the city council as it tackles the housing backlog of almost 400 000 desperately needed homes.The city council is working on a plan of action to deliver the most-needed services to all the in-formal settlements within its municipal boundaries. top. The integrated plan is being led by senior city housing official Hans Smit. "The plan will carry the details of every informal settlement, what needs to be upgraded, what can be upgraded, et cetera," he explained. Mayor Helen Zille said that next to every recorded priority needed for every informal settlement would be a number showing where that venue was in

IOL: R58m housing scandal rocks Gauteng

IOL: R58m housing scandal rocks Gauteng The Gauteng provincial government is considering taking legal action against a construction consortium following the disclosure that, three years after a R58-million tender was awarded, not a single RDP house has been built. The Star has learnt that, in 2004, Bahlodi Consortium was awarded the contract to revitalise Evaton township, south of Johannesburg, where 90 percent of the population earns less than R3 500 a month.Under the plan, RDP (Reconstruction and Development Programme) houses were to be built, with water and sanitation for the township's 200 000 residents, along with new roads and pavements, as part of the upgrading of infrastructure. top. A sum of R58-million was awarded to what was then called the Evaton Urban Renewal Project. 'I just cross the road and dump it in the veld'Three years later, however, it transpires that there is little to show for the millions of rands of public money - while the housing list has swollen

DA WANTS PROBE INTO N2 GATEWAY HOUSING ALLOCATIONS

The Democratic Alliance on Sunday called for an investigation into the allocation of houses at Cape Town's N2 Gateway social housing project because luxury cars were seen parked outside some of the units. "Serious questions need to be asked about the process used to allocate houses in the N2 Gateway development, given the number of luxury German cars that appear to belong to the tenants of these units," DA housing spokesperson Butch Steyn said. "A DA visit suggests that those in real need of state housing have been pushed out of the queue for N2 Gateway houses by the less needy." Steyn said the houses were supposed to be allocated to people who could not otherwise afford formal housing, with the rental being between R300 and R500 a month. During a brief on-site visit to the N2 development, the DA found five luxury BMWs, Audis and Mercedes parked in bays attached to the units, and other new vehicles. Their research put a new BMW 6 series at between R825 000 and R

CETA - forensic audit

DID YOU KNOW? According to a forensic audit performed on the Construction Education and Training Authority (CETA), which was leaked to the DA after CETA refused to hand it over to the Auditor-General (A-G) or make it public, CETA is technically insolvent with a deficit of almost R8 million. CETA made double payments to four service providers for learnerships, totalling more than R1.5 million. Training providers to CETA submitted irregular claims for learnerships and skills development programmes, possibly amounting to R170.5 million. CETA’s executive committee members allegedly have interests in the training-providers that benefit from programmes instituted by CETA, and therefore override rules and regulations. A case in point is that Mashilo Moloto, the son of board chairperson Narius Moloto, received a bursary from CETA’s bursary scheme without declaring the relationship. CETA received the most critical evaluation by the A-G for the financial year 2005/06: a disclaimer of opinion.

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Emailing: allAfrica.com Angola President Dos Santos Confident About Sustainable Development (Page 1 of 1)