North West MEC for Human Settlements, Public Safety & Liaison, Ms Desbo Mohono says that destruction of properties during protests is not only a drawback but also serves to exacerbate service delivery challenges within some communities.
MEC Mohono’s comment follows the torching of a community hall in Logageng village near Setlagole in Ratlou Local Municipality in the North West province during a protest over an abandoned housing development project, water, electricity and roads on Thursday.
“We condemn in the strongest term acts of criminality that are an affront to our democracy however, the department will do everything possible to speed up intervention onthe abandoned housing project in order to restore the situation to normality,” stressed Mohono.
The provincial department is considering termination of the R84 million rural housing development agreement it had entered with Ratlou Local Municipality for delivery of 2 000 housing units spread across Madibogo, Disaneng, Makgobistad and Logageng villages.
The termination will allow the department to move to site as speedily as possible to rectify poor workmanship and incomplete structures in Logageng, Madibogo and expedite completion of the remaining housing units in Disaneng.
The contractor appointed by the municipality for the project, Mosa Projects had struggled for some time to register satisfactory progress in these villages due to shoddy work though it completed 400 units in Makgobistad.
The challenge in Logageng where 200 housing units were to be built is that the contractor had abandoned site after building about 63 wall plates and other milestones. Though the contractor was instructed to go back to site to conduct remedial work on structures built, he hadn’t done so.
An audit of the project had among others recommended termination of the development agreement with the municipality and takeover of the project by the department, reconciliation and audit of the project to quantify cost implications and amounts to be recouped from the contractor for rectification work and outstanding work to be done on the project.
Enquiries:
Lesiba Moses Kgwele
Tel: 018 391 0420
Fax: 018 381 0328
Cell: 083 629 1987
E-mail: Lkgwele@nwpg.gov.za
Destruction of properties during protests drawback says MEC Mohono after community hall torched
Province
