Heuningvlei residents get decent houses

Sunday, May 28, 2017

Pretoria - The Housing Development Agency (HDA) has been commended for helping to restore the dignity and quality of life of the people of Heuningvlei by giving them better homes.

Heuningvlei is a village in the Northern Cape. On Friday, Human Settlements Deputy Minister Zou Kota-Fredericks, Mineral Resources Deputy Minister Godfrey Oliphant, and MEC for Human Settlements and Local Government in the Northern Cape, Alvin Botes, visited Heuningvlei, where they congratulated the HDA.

The HDA is an agency of the Department of Human Settlements. It was commissioned by the Department of Mineral Resources to assist with the construction and relocation of houses from an asbestos contaminated site to an area deemed uncontaminated.

This followed an out of court settlement with the Ba-Ga Bareki community that Bute Mine, which was owned by a subsidiary of Gencor, pay for the rehabilitation of the affected areas and compensate a group of 22 households in the community that were affected by its asbestos mining activities.

According to the Department of Human Settlements, the Department of Mineral Resources completed phase 1 of rehabilitating the area and developed house plans for the beneficiaries.

The department on Friday said phase 2 includes the relocation and construction of the 22 houses for the affected households and upgrading the Tribal Authority Facility.

“The beneficiaries will receive houses similar to the ones that they are currently occupying. The relocation site will enable the affected households to be more integrated with the rest of the Heuningvlei community,” said the department.

The visit by the Deputy Ministers, MEC and the Mayor of Joe Morolong Local Municipality, Dineo Leutlwetse, is part of ongoing oversight visits by government to check on the progress made with regards to the revitalisation of distressed mining towns.

Speaking during the visit, which coincided with Africa Day celebrations, Deputy Minister Kota-Fredericks said the work being done and the progress made was a “true reflection of government commitment to eradicating poverty, unemployment and inequality through the provision of quality homes, thus building a better Africa and a better world”.

She said the visit reaffirmed government support for the African Union’s (AU) Agenda 2063 and commitment to playing its role within the AU to build a better Africa. - SAnews.gov.za