Plato playing with fire in housing move
MAYOR of Cape Town Dan Plato is playing with fire by moving R100million from an original R118m promised by his predecessor, Patricia de Lille, for housing at Imizamo Yethu in Hout Bay to the next financial year.
Plato made much of an announcement at the weekend that at least R2.1billion has been set aside for formal housing, while claiming that R4bn has also been allocated for the upgrade of informal settlements.
Plato also claimed that some of this money would be used to address the issues of backyarders.
This is all smoke and mirrors. The City is not using new funds. They’re just moving money around as part of their electioneering campaign. This money comes from water services and human settlements.
It is obvious Plato has realised that the DA is fading in the Western Cape and is using the housing issue to push his party’s election agenda.
We are warning Plato and the DA that they’re playing with fire.
This is the fourth time they have rolled over money for Imizamo Yethu.
De Lille promised people there that R118m would be used for housing. Before her the then mayor, Helen Zille, tried to resolve problems in Imizamo Yethu.
Now Plato has reneged on this pledge and taken R100m for other projects meant to boost the DA’s image.
The people of Imizamo Yethu are not going to be happy about this. They are tired of being used.
A promise was made to them and they expect it to be honoured. Dan Plato has to tell them the truth and that is that they don’t count.
As far as we’re concerned, he has shown that the DA does not care about them and does not want to improve their dehumanising living conditions. If it did, it would not have been stringing them along on empty promises for years.
This is a disgraceful act of electioneering and a desperate attempt by the DA to shore up its support. Our communities see through their desperation.
We are confident that voters throughout the Western Cape will show their displeasure with Plato and his party on May 8 when our country will go to the polls.