Address by KwaZulu-Natal Department of Human Settlements and Public Works MEC Maggie Govender at the opening of the Dolo/Msinga multipurpose community centre

The Program director, Mr G Hadebe
Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Public Works, Ms M Fraser
The Mayor of Msinga Municipality,Cllr FJ Sikhakane
Councillors present
Representatives of local and provincial government
Members of the community

Today is an exciting day for the people of Msinga. The long waited day for receiving your very own facility, where you can meet, hold empowerment workshops for the youth and women, receive services from government and run small businesses is here. This multi purpose community centre (MPCC) was built by the Department of Public Works as a contribution to the 'Operation Mbo' initiative which placed significant emphasis on rural service delivery to two areas in the province being Nkandla and Msinga.

It is time to celebrate this as it will make a difference to the way you live, what you do and how conduct your business.

Before I talk about this MPCC let me share with you what the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Department of Human Settlements which I am also the MEC for, has been doing in KwaZulu-Natal. To date, our department has built over 500 000 houses in KwaZulu-Natal. There are even more to come. As I stand here talking to you, I can report that we have over 600 housing projects all over our province. These projects cover rental housing, rural housing projects, social housing, hostels and low- income housing.

I have seen newspaper reports where my department has been accused of not providing houses for you. This is not true, in the uMzinyathi District, we have 32 housing projects with a total value of over 103 million rand. Need I say more.

Msinga Municipality

Two projects were prioritised for the “Operation Mbo” initiative in this District. These are Pomeroy Housing Project and KwaLatha Rural Housing project, which are urban and rural projects respectively.

For any Housing project to be approved by the MEC, there has to be confirmation from the District water Services Authority that they will be able to provide bulk water for the project. The Uthukela Water, which is the official Water Authority for UMzinyathi has for a period of over a year not been in a position to confirm either that bulk water services are available or at least that it intends to provide water to housing projects in the UMzinyathi District. This has resulted in a number of approved Housing projects grinding to a halt. In Msinga the Pomeroy Housing Project: which was prioritised to be the first urban project under Msinga Municipality has been unable to proceed due to the lack of bulk infrastructure.

Under the current 'Operation Sukuma Sakhe', there are a number of poorest households that have been identified per Municipality throughout the District. Some that have been identified in Municipalities like Nquthu and Umvoti, have been submitted are being verified by the department. Much progress have been made in Ndumeni and Msinga Municipalities with regard to 'Operation Sukuma Sakhe'

The houses for the five poorest households in Glencoe/Sithembile that were indentified by the President of the Republic of South Africa when he visited the area together with the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, have been completed and are ready for hand over.

The houses for first twenty-five (25) poorest families that were identified by the former Deputy President when she Msinga Municipality are currently at construction stage, with five houses complete and others at various levels. The challenge here has been the terrain of the area, which makes it extremely difficult to reach some of the
households.

Let me also share with you what we, as the KZN Department of Human Settlements are doing to help improve the quality of quality of people’s lives in rural areas. As we all know, in many areas in KwaZulu-Natal there is a shortage of water and people, mainly women and children have to wake up early and walk long distances to collect water.

We have decided that in order to help such people living in rural areas, we will make sure that houses built in a rural area will have water tanks installed as well. I have just  launched the Water Harvesting program in Umhlabuyalinga where we will provide water tanks for over 52 000 households at a cost of R150 million to people living in rural areas all over the province. I am sure we all know what a difference this will make to our people’s lives.

Today I am pleased to be here with you, to officially open the Dolo/Msinga MPCC, knowing that this community will greatly benefit from such a facility. This government, led by the African National Congress has built the mpcc to make life easier for you.

The Centre is designed with a high proportion of face brick in the external finishes to be a low maintenance complex. The face brick further enhances the appearance of the building with the landscape. All this cost just over R3 million. During the planning phase the Departments of Social Development, Home Affairs, South African Social Security Agency, Labour, Agriculture and Environment Affairs, and COGTA were consulted to determine their space requirements to provide much needed services to you.

This project was completed in 2008 and was subsequently vandalised. The MPCC comprises of a large hall which can seat 200 people. There are male and female change rooms, a meeting room for you to have your meetings in, a resource room, four stalls, three offices, a kitchen and a guard house amongst others.

We as government are serious about the economic development of communities and the creation of work opportunities, skills development and jobs. The construction of this MPCC was undertaken by a woman owned contractor. This project created 11 employment opportunities for women, 20 local people were temporarily employed and five people were permanently employed by the contractor. During construction mentorship training was provided on basic brick laying, plastering and glazing.

We would like to see this space put to good use. We would like to see services being offered here that will greatly benefit the community of Dolo/Msinga.

All of this is in line with what our President, President Zuma, has told us we, as government must do. We must make sure that we deliver services to our people, people must have housing, schools and access to health and very importantly we must try to create jobs and work opportunities. You will find, whenever there is a public works project, there will be work for people. Our president has said that we must create jobs and work opportunities for our people and that is what we will do. Now before I leave you, I would like to say the Dolo/Msinga project is yours, put it to good use, make the most of the opportunities it offers you and very importantly take care of it. It is for you, the community.

Working together we can do more. Thank you.

Source: KwaZulu-Natal Department of Public Works