Joy As Minister Madikizela Hands Over Serviced Sites In Robertson, Langeberg

“Everyone who was dispossessed of their land must get their land back. There should be no questions whether people should own the land or not.”

This statement was made by Western Cape Human Settlements Minister, Bonginkosi Madikizela when he handed over 505 serviced sites to kanana residents in Nkqubela, Robertson today.

Beneficiaries of the Nkqubela Enhances Serviced Sites Project are people earning slightly above R3500 and therefore do not qualify for a full Breaking New Ground (BNG) house subsidy. They also earn too little to qualify for a bond at the bank to buy their own houses.

The Nkqubela project forms part of the Department of Human Settlements’ strategic goal of Upgrading of Informal Settlements Programme (UISP) which aims to improve the living conditions of people living in informal areas. The primary objective of the project is to provide enhanced serviced sites to qualifying beneficiaries located within the informal settlement around Nkqubela.

To unlock this project, a reservoir was constructed in Nkqubela to which a R4.5M contribution was made by the provincial Department of Human Settlements. The development is located in Robertson within the Langeberg Municipal District. It is part of the Municipal Integrated Development Plan (IDP).

During the handover, Minister Madikizela said he was excited to see that Langeberg Municipality had heeded his call of making land available for non-qualifiers.

“This is one of my priority projects that I have been driving. I am very happy that this municipality has prioritised this programme. I have always said that too many people have fallen through the cracks. These are the people who cannot afford a house but we must create an environment so that they can have a foot in the door by providing infrastructure and by transferring land in the form of a site so they can incrementally build their own homes,” said Minister Madikizela.

Minister added: “This is a response to the call that South Africans have been making. People want land. We are here to facilitate that process. This is another form of land reform. This is an exciting process I will be driving across the province so that those who are struggling to qualify for houses at least have a subsidy in a form of a site. I am very excited today.”

Langeberg Mayor Henry Jansen said he was happy to see the success of the project despite challenges when the land was illegally invaded in 2015.

“The illegal invasion of this land delayed the process of preparing the land for a UISP project. The planning of the project was completed in the 2017/18 financial year and toilets had been provided, said Mayor Jansen.

Photographs and voice-clips are available on request.