Gauteng Premier David Makhura on Tuesday announced the appointment of Dikgang “Uhuru” Moiloa as a Member of the Executive Council responsible for Human Settlements and COGTA.
Addressing the media earlier today, Premier Makhura explained that Moiloa replaces Paul Mashatile, who has been elected to be the Treasurer General at the elective conference of the ruling party in December 2017.
“Uhuru Moiloa is a long serving member of the ANC who has a wide range of political and governance experience which will enable him to hit the ground running in this important work,” said Premier Makhura.
Moiloa is currently the Deputy Speaker of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature. He joined the Gauteng Legislature in 1999.
The swearing in of MEC Moiloa will take place on Friday 16 March 2018.
Illegal land invasions
Touching on illegal land invasions, the Premier said police across the province are on the alert.
He said land invasion is a breach of the law.
“The Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act of 1998 prohibits land invasion, thus making it a criminal act.
“Those who engage in land invasion must be dealt with by Law Enforcement Agencies. As I have said before, there are many factors behind land invasion, these include financial gains made by those who sell land illegally as well as politically motivated land invasion.
“We will not allow illegal occupation of land in this province. As I said in the State of the Province we need a fresh approach to resolving the land question,” the Premier said.
Premier Makhura said the provincial government is aware that people have been making calls for land to be made available so that they can build their own houses and embark on economic activities.
“Working with municipalities, national government and state-owned enterprises, we will ensure that well-allocated land in key economic centres is to be redistributed in the public interest to further establish post-apartheid cities,” he said.
Property rates hikes
With regard to complains about the property rates hikes, the Premier said he has convened a meeting with the Executive Mayor for the City of Johannesburg, Cllr Herman Mashaba, to discuss concerns raised by the residents of Johannesburg in relation to the General Valuation Roll for 2018.
“I had been inundated with complaints raised by business people and ratepayers in the City of Johannesburg regarding over-valuation and under-valuation of their properties.
“Some of the valuations which have been identified as problematic have experienced considerable increases, in some cases by over 100%,” Premier Makhura said.
During the meeting, the City confirmed that the current model used to evaluate properties had errors and the City had received 4500 objections already.
About 8000 properties were identified by the City as having been erroneously valuated.
“I will continue to engage the City and the residents of Johannesburg to ensure a fair outcome for residents,” the Premier said. – SAnews.gov.za
