R5bn in Western Cape housing developments halted due to land invasions, criminal activities

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24-08-2022
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News 24
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Various housing projects, which could address the massive housing backlog in the Western Cape, have been halted by either criminal activities or land invasions.

Human Settlements and Infrastructure MEC Tertuis Simmers said R5 billion worth of housing projects were stopped over the last five years.  

47 projects in total have been stopped. 

Over R5 billion in housing developments have been halted over the last five financial years due to criminal activities and land invasions in the Western Cape. 

This was revealed in a Parliamentary question submitted by the DA's human settlements spokesperson in the province, Mathlodi Maseko, to Human Settlements and Infrastructure MEC Tertuis Simmers.  

Maseko asked Simmers what the challenges the department faced with the construction of housing projects in the past five years, and how many housing projects in the province had been halted because of difficult community dynamics, land invasions, other criminal activity and delayed provision of electricity infrastructure by Eskom. 

In response to Maseko, Simmers listed 47 housing projects in the province that had been halted.

These projects were located in areas such as Delft, Citrusdal, Athlone, Beacon Valley, Khayelitsha, Philippi and Mfuleni. 

Simmers told News24 that providing much-needed housing opportunities was still a priority for his term in office.

He said:

However, we are still deterred from our programme of action by certain external elements, which include the so-called construction mafia holding our project to ransom. As well as the unwarranted community dynamics that delay our project, including the tendency of queue-jumping by invading strategic land in an attempt to strongarm my department.

Maseko said public infrastructure housing projects had become increasingly vulnerable to violence and criminality. "More than 45 000 beneficiaries have been affected by the halting of the 47 housing development projects over the past five years. Thousands of vulnerable Western Cape residents will have to wait even longer to know the dignity of home ownership," she said.

"To deal with the criminality that prevents housing developments in the Western Cape and across the county, we require a whole-of-society approach. I call on communities to work with the Western Cape Department of Infrastructure and [Department of] Local Government to report land invaders and extortions threatening housing projects. It is more crucial than ever to cooperate with the provincial government and confront the criminal behaviour that obstructs the delivery of homes."

She said the provincial housing backlog could be reduced significantly with community and government cooperation.

"As the chairperson of the human settlements standing committee, I will engage the committee to visit these housing developments to track improvement and evaluate the collaboration between the government and communities," she said.