GQEBERHA - CITY PLEDGES A MASSIVE R300 MILLION TO DEVELOP INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS ACROSS THE METRO

In a bold step towards bringing normality to land and planning in Nelson Mandela Bay, the Municipality will embark on the massive R300 million development of all recognised informal settlements within the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality area.

Following a Council decision to formally recognise some informal areas that came up through illegal land invasion across the City, the Human Settlements Directorate has developed a strategy to develop these informal settlements from the next financial year, starting in July 2021.

The first step that has been done was to quantify the number of existing informal settlements which came to 140 informal settlements.

Currently the directorate is in a process of profiling the residents of all the shack areas with the intention to verify qualifying residents for housing subsidy. The Municipality will then provide temporary basic services like water and sanitation services. That process will proceed simultaneously  with rezoning and installation of formal services.

Private land ownership in some of the occupied land pieces remains a challenge that will delay some of the developments. 

In Motherwell and Wells Estate alone, there are 26 informal settlements with 14 of those on private land and 2 belonging to the Department of Public Works.

The Municipality will engage with private land owners with the possibility of acquiring the land parcels, should that process fail the Municipality will have to identify alternative municipal land.

Outlining the new strategy to Motherwell Councillors and representatives of all the Motherwell informal settlements,  Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements, Councillor Masixole Zinto said the strategy was in two fold.

"We have come to a stage where we can no longer continue to allow lawlessness within housing delivery. At first it was critical to formalise the existing settlements with the clear intention and message that we will no longer allow any new illegal occupation within Nelson Mandela Bay. This must stop, and we will work tirelessly to make sure that all the informal settlements that have been profiled are developed as quickly as possible," said MMC Zinto.

MMC Zinto has pleaded with informal settlements residents to partner with the Municipality to make this process seamless.

"Lack of cooperation between beneficiaries and the Municipality will lead to delays and the City loosing millions of grant funding to other Municipalities that are better organised.Let's work together to build our communities," said MMC Zinto.

"We would like to thank the Municipality for the plans. As the Municipality delivers the programme, we request transparency and honesty. We would also like the Municipality to be open about the budget that is being used for these projects," said Ward 57 Vukani Informal Settlements resident Lindile Soldati. 

Another resident Funeka Qona said the Municipality must improve the quality of temporary services.

"As things stand, the sanitation services we are getting are of poor quality, posing a health risk to us. We request that the companies offering temporary services be monitored carefully," said Qona.

NMBM