The current City of Johannesburg administration has been hailed by its very own councillor for Ward 89, Amelia Bester, for taking the matter of housing more seriously than ever before.
In a speech presented to council on Thursday, 14 March, Amelia started by sharing a fictional story of a man who visited her office. querying about his promised house in the 90’s.
“Mr Johannes Kololo from Constantia Kloof in Ward 89 met me at my Civic Centre Office after being sent by Province to present his C Form, obtained in 1998, to his Ward Councillor.
“This form has come of age and it is a general practice that one receives a key when you turn 21! Unfortunately, there is no celebration for Mr Kololo or thousands of other South Africans who have been waiting patiently for the keys to their RDP homes since the gestation period of this housing promise in the early 90s,” Amelia said during the sitting.
She indicated that their housing quarterly report revealed that more titles deeds were issued during Mayor Herman Mashaba’s term than by the former ANC-run municipality.
However, she said, “Due to the failures of other spheres of Government to address the most contentious issues of our time, land and housing, and in light of mass migration to Johannesburg, the City finds itself in the precarious position of having to restore the dignity afforded by shelter to many countrymen and -women.
“This is being done while servicing past debts and trying to catch up on the inherited R170 billion infrastructure maintenance backlog,” she explained, and said further that she trusted that the recommendations the committee made to council as per their oversight report would be followed up by the MMC for Housing, Meshack van Wyk, and his team.
She discussed the housing issue further, citing the importance of understanding the magnitude of the housing issue. “The waiting list for housing in Johannesburg is 300 000 beneficiaries long. Although we have allocated 15 per cent of the Capex budget to housing, the highest ever in the City’s history, this will not suffice to address the backlog. By February of this year, the DA-led coalition government had delivered 6 060 title deeds – surpassing in three years what the previous ANC government had delivered in 22 years,” Amelia highlighted.
Amelia also encouraged Johannesburg Social Housing Company (Joshco), an entity established to manage all council rental stock including public hostels, to inform the communities of the qualifying criteria for their rentals and of the availability of such housing opportunities, where rentals are available from as little as R700 per month.
“The entity performed well in achieving its Key Performance Indicators in the quarter under review and it is reported that the City has 11 017 billable rental units. In 2017/ 18 Joshco delivered 1 159 rental housing opportunities, with prospective tenants earning from R1 500 per month qualifying for leases,” she explained, adding that, “Joshco mentions that the poor economic climate coupled with job losses impacts negatively on rental collection”.
