Thembalethu residents not happy about housing project
Thembalethu beneficiaries of the Upgrading of Informal Settlements Programme (UISP) housing project which is currently being rolled out in Ward 21 and other areas in George are not happy with the project's progress and implementation. They demand the project to be stopped until their demands are met. Chairperson of the steering committee at Ward 21, Siphelo Manxele, alleges that the housing project is not going as planned and that there are many irregularities, including neglect of disabled people and a lack of communication between the municipality and the community.
The first phase of the UISP housing project in Thembalethu, started in February 2017, was completed on 30 April 2018. The George Municipality has with the aid of provincial funding handed over 200 houses to beneficiaries.
Grievances
Manxele said since the start of the project the George Municipality hasn't called an annual general meeting ( AGM) to update residents about the project and elect a new beneficiary liaison committee (BLC). He added that some of the finished houses have cracks. "We have many problems like houses with cracks and in other houses no ventilation, and when beneficiaries report these matters to the current BLC, no one attends to our grievances," said Manxele.
Municipal spokesperson Chantel Edwards-Klose responded to a list of grievances sent to the George Municipality with regards to the Thembalethu UISP project. On the question of ventilators and cracks she said, "Every house has a three-month retention period and if any cracks appear in that period it will be rectified before the five-year structural guarantee starts. Air vents are not part of the norms and standards of the Provincial Department of Human Settlements PDoHS".
Edwards-Klose said an AGM was arranged for the end of 2018, but it was disrupted by the community. "An AGM is being planned and the date will be communicated to the beneficiaries."