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RESPONSE OF THE REPORT OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SETTLEMENTS ON AN OVERSIGHT VISIT TO GAUTENGPROVINCEFROM 1-6 AUGUST 2010, DATED 26 JANUARY 2011

Project / Status since Site Visit
Orange Farm X 1 & Proper / JW to upgrade the bulk infrastructure and maintain some of the lines in the project
Orange Farm X 2 / Contractor has been appointed to connect the houses that could not be connected due to the change in policy with 123 toilet structures built to date. Project to be completed by May 2012
Orange Farm X 3 / Water and sewer reticulation has been handed over to JW. With house construction being finalised, 13 housing units outstanding, contractor is on site.
Orange Farm X 4 / Water and sewer reticulation has been handed over to JW. And house construction being completed, contractor is on site
Orange Farm X 6 / Water and Sewer has been handed over to JW. House construction has been completed for beneficiaries who qualify for a subsidy with a balance either not qualifying and /or have built their own houses.
Orange Farm X 7 / Water and sewer has been completed, contractor is finalizing the snags to hand over the services to JW.
Orange Farm X 8 / Water and sewer contractor that has replaced the previous contractor has completed the services pending the finalization of the snags to hand over the project to JW.
Orange Farm X 9 / Water and sewer has been completed and handed over to JW. House construction to commence on appointment of the contractor
Drieziek Proper / Water and sewer has been handed over to JW. Contractor has been appointed to complete the houses that were left incomplete by the previous contractor with 57 houses completed of the 98 incomplete houses.
Drieziek X 1 / Contractor has been appointed to complete the project on termination of the previous contractor due to non-performance, with 205 stands completed of the 1089 outstanding.
Drieziek X 3 / Developer is on site, currently building houses.
Drieziek X 4 / Contractor is off-site pending the approval of the Variation Order to commence with the last phases of the project for water and sewer reticulation.
Drieziek X 5 / Developer is on site, currently building houses.
Drieziek X 6 / Water and sewer has been handed over to JW. House construction has been completed for beneficiaries who qualify for a subsidy with a balance either not qualifying and /or have built their own houses.
Stredford X 2 / Water and sewer has been handed over to JW. House construction has been completed for beneficiaries who qualify for a subsidy with a balance either not qualifying and /or have built their own houses.
Stredford X 3 / Water and sewer has been handed over to JW. House construction has been completed for beneficiaries who qualify for a subsidy with a balance either not qualifying and /or have built their own houses.
Stredford 4 / Contractor has been appointed to build houses for beneficiaries that qualify
Stredford X 5 / Water and sewer has been handed over to JW. House construction has been completed for beneficiaries who qualify for a subsidy with a balance either not qualifying and /or have built their own houses.
Stredford X 6 / Water and sewer has been handed over to JW. Contractor pending appointment for the construction of the houses.
Stredford X 7 / Water and sewer has been handed over to JW. Contract for the construction of houses has been ceded to another contractor to complete house construction for the beneficiaries that qualify. Site has been re-established pending the approval of beneficiaries for house construction. Stands where foundations have been installed where beneficiaries do not qualify for subsidies will not have the houses completed due to the change in instruction.
Stredford X 8 / Water and sewer has been handed over to JW. House construction has been completed for beneficiaries who qualify for a subsidy with a balance either not qualifying and /or have built their own houses.
Stredford x 9 / JW to maintain the services that have been installed, the developer to proceed with house construction in the next financial year
Stredford X 10 / Water and sewer has been handed over to JW, contractors are on site for house construction.
Thubelisha Project / Houses that were built by Thubelisha were re-inspected with a report submitted by the Quality Assurance; a contractor is in the process of being appointed to rectify the defects on the houses.
JW Maintainance Plan / JW is the authority that is mandated to maintain all water and sewer reticulation in the City of Joburg Metro for both the internal services and bulk services. The programme that was submitted was indicating that work will commence with the upgraded to bulk link sewer in the Orange Farm X 1, Stredford X 9 and the balance of the projects that require upgrading and/or maintenance.
Township Establishment Process leading up to the issuing of title deeds / City of Joburg has secured funds through the MIG Funding for the construction of road s and storm water, along with the water and sewer certificates with enable for the services clearances to be issued. This forms part of the documentation required to open township registers, lodge for title deeds which are then issued to the beneficiaries. The planned implementation has been spread over the MTEF.

DIEPSLOOT AND IVORYPARK

Diepsloot illegally occupied houses

The Department notes and confirms the illegal occupation that occurred in 2001, and will prioritise the displaced rightful beneficiaries in the imminent Diepsloot East Project

Ivory Park unfinished houses and formalisation

The department appointed Homes 2000 to complete a list of 303 houses left incomplete by Thubelisha Homes and XHASA ATC. Of the 303 houses only 228 where still incomplete by the time the contractor started, with the other houses having been completed by the beneficiaries. All 228 houses have been completed. The Department is now conducting a survey to pinpoint any other houses that may be incomplete in the area.

The Department has advanced plans to formalise all the informal settlements in Ivory Park Area as part of the Ivory Park Formalisation/Infill project, for which the feasibility stage has been completed with an estimated budget of R600m. the project plan is now at business plan stage, with the land acquisition outstanding and delaying the project. the intention now is to expropriate the required land

KathradaPark – Silvertown TRUs

Notwithstanding the fact that there is limited space in the project which is already oversubscribed, the community has rejected the allocation of any qualifying beneficiaries residing in the Silvertown section of Kathrada, as they are late comers to the project. The intention of the Department is to relocate these beneficiaries to the mixed tenure, SlovoPark (Crosby) Project which is currently in planning with the township establishment imminent.

STATUS REPORT ON THE RIETFONTEIN HARRY GWALA INFORMAL SETTLEMENT

BACKGROUND

The informal settlement known as Rietfontein Harry Gwala is situated in the EkurhuleniMetropolitanMunicipality next to WattvilleTownship near the town of Benoni. The area currently has over 1600 households residing. The feasibility conducted indicated that only 389 stands can be developed in the area, an alternative land will have to be identified to cater for the remaining balance.

PROJECT TARGETED FOR ALLOCATION

Beneficiaries of the Harry Gwala Proper Informal settlement were allocated houses by the EkurhuleniMetropolitanMunicipality to the Chief Albert Luthuli Ext 4 during 2004 - 2006.

The Department has been allocating beneficiaries from the Harry Gwala Ext 2 / Beachfront to the Chief Albert Luthuli Ext 2, 3 and 5 since 2009.

The ward Councilor of the area from where the targeted community will benefit is Clr. Jabulani Sibiya of ward 30.

CHALLENGES

Harry Gwala project has a number of challenges that have prevented the project from being implemented, most of which are as a result of the dispute on the Layout plan to be implemented.

According to the feasibility study conducted, the finding was that the part of the Harry Gwala informal settlement is suitable for housing development and can only yield a total of 389 stands, optionally it can be high rise type.

Based on the feasibility report conducted by VIP Consulting, EMM has had a number of communications with the community. The community has also approached the Legislature to present their grievance against government and the overall service delivery in the area.

Resolutions were indicated, that the Department must provide quarterly reports to the portfolio committee, as far as progress is concern.

PROGRESS AND RECOMMENDATION

There are currently three processes that are taking place to resolve and fast track the Layout plan approval in the Harry Gwala project:

  • EMM has issued an IPW to VIP Consulting for the Township Establishment through Ordinance for 1000 units
  • The Steering committee has been established to be used as the platform to obtain the Clr and the Community’s buy-in of the High rise Layout plan option as it is the only option available to cater for more than 389 units as reflected by the feasibility study. A site visit by all stakeholders to pin point the developable area to the Committee in order to take an informed decision is recommended.
  • Compilation of a unanimous program for implementation by EMM, GDLG&H and the Community. This program should also be presented to the Legislature and Community lawyers as a way forward.

Public meeting at Orange Farm

During the meeting the following challenges were raised by members of the community:

Most contractors appointed by the provincial Department of Housing in relation to sewerage projects were not completing them. Some contractors left a project three years ago. Sewage was flooding onto the streets. The greater part of the area was still using pit-latrine toilets and those with sewerage informed the delegation about the poor quality thereof. The main sewer was installed by Johannesburg Water but was not connected to households, especially those who did not own RDP homes and those who resided in old-stock housing. The connection would be installed only in respect of RDP houses.

Subsequent to the site visit a contractor was appointed to connect the sewer on a pilot basis in Orange Farm X 2. Additional funding will be required however in order for the balance of the stands in the greater Orange Farm area to be connected. Some of the projects are still under implementation i.e. Orange Farm X 7, Orange Farm x 8 ( where the contractors are still busy with the final snags), Drieziek X 1 and Drieziek X 4 where the installation of the services is still underway.

In 1995, in a greenfield development in LakeSide the allocation was not conducted properly as people owned more that five sites, and some sites were sold illegally. Some sites were allocated as business sites and others were located in waterlogged areas.

The beneficiaries that are residing on waterlogged stands were audited and relocated to both Vlakfontein Lehae and Lakeside Estate. However due to the rising water table additional families are being affected. The City of Joburg is currently embarking on a process of appointing consultants and contractors to implement the roads and stormwater reticulation. Furthermore, those beneficiaries that have been affected by the water along the dam will be relocated to another project that can accomadate them.

In some areas houses were built for people who did not qualify for government subsidies. It was reported that there was a lack of consistency in housing delivery as some plots were fenced while others were not.

This was linked to the previous instructions of clearing all the shacks across the province. Contractors were appointed to eradicate the shacks however some of those beneficiaries did not qualify for RDP due to differing reasons. Subsequently the instructions went to the contractors at the beginning of the 2009/2010 financial year to build for those beneficiary that qualify for a subsidy. The fencing programme was implemented as pilot by the City of Joburg for the Drieziek X 3 and Drieziek x 5 projects that are implemented. This initiative is solely funded by the Municipality and not under the subsidy mechanism.

The slow pace in issuing of title deeds was a challenge in the area.

The City of Johannesburg and Department have started a process of issuing title deeds to Orange Farm

Contractors whose contracts were terminated for shoddy work were later appointed for other projects and continued to build poor structures.

The contractor in question is Manganye Bokosi whose contract was terminated in Orange Farm X 8 due to non-performance. Another contractor was appointed Vharanani Properties to complet the works and build houses. Manganye Bokosi tendered to install services in Orange Farm X 9, a project implemented by the City of Joburg. Their appointment was based on them complying to the tendering processes at the municipality which are independent from the appoints done at the Provincial Department of Local Government and Housing.

Thubelisha constructed 1 000 units in ward 1 Ext 9 and all those houses have a sewerage problem. Furthermore, 4 000 units were of poor quality.

A contractor for the rectification of the houses built by Thubelisha across Orange Farm is being appointed. JW is currently investigating some of the water and sewer issues for projects that require maintainance.

There was a lack of proper planning coupled with the non-standardisation in delivery of housing projects. For example, some projects conformed to policy (providing a service delivery package with sewer connection, access roads and streets lights).

Johannesburg Water Services has also ordered the people in Ext 29 to pay R100 for sewerage connections; however the sewer remained flooding in their houses.

Contractors left site without completing construction of the houses. After three years the department re-instated their contracts again. The community reported that a constructor called Sea Kay left the site because it was not registered and people were moved to temporary structures are still living there. The Committee inquired how this constructor was appointed without proper documentation.

Seakay was appointed with all the proper processes being followed. As per above they are some of the contractors that had built for beneficiaries without approved subsidies. The contractor was then instructed to build only for those beneficiaries that qualify. None of the beneficiaries were moved to temporary structures in Stredford X 7 as this is an in situ upgrade project. Subsequently their contract was ceded to Heldo to complete the project due the Seakay’s financial problems.

It was alleged that the provincial department built houses in areas which were not approved by the municipality and at some stage people were allocated housing without a proper screening; hence some people were alleged to have owned five stands.

Projects are not known to provide further information. However all the projects that are implemented in the Greater Orange Farm area have been approved.

In respect of Greenfield projects of 1995, ninety five per cent of the people living in the area are not the rightful owners.

In respect of the PHP project, 250 units were set to be constructed; however, only 180 units were constructed and surprisingly, the department claims all that houses have been completed.

In Orange Farm X 2, Hola Khuthalani, the Support Organisation was assisting beneficiaries to build their own homes through the PHP. Their contract was for 250 houses to be built but due to the cancellation of the programme in the following financial year their contract had to be terminated at 180 for the houses that were completed at the time.

The area has a quite number of orphans or child-headed families or households who are highly victimised by stepparents who chase the children away.

  • The department is currently working with Department of Health and Social Development in order to find ways of dealing with identified cases. There are special approvals that already have been considered by the MEC for houses to be allocated to the identified families.

INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT

•Short term terms plans ensure that the various Wastewater Treatment Works and supporting networks stay operational at the time.

•To ensure efficient maintenance, operation and minimal upgrading of the existing system for the next 5 to 7 years, and to prepare a prioritised time and cost budget schedule that are to be implemented immediately.

–upgrade of Ekangala WWTWs which is proceeding well and progress on construction is at about 62%.

–Rehabilitation on Percy Stewart WWTW under construction (civil, electrical and mechanical upgrading) the constructions are proceeding well.

–In Reitspruit WWTW interim repairs, pump repairs, electrical works were done and in operations currently. A 48 hours detention tank was built to accommodate the sewer overflow.

–A consultant was appointed in order to prepare the designs for the de-bottlenecking of Meyerton WWTW and the upgrade. Preliminary designs have been already prepared.