A proposed housing development in Strandfontein remains in limbo as elected Project Engagement Committee (PEC) members have not signed the terms of reference.
A PEC spokesperson said the committee refuses to sign until specific points, relating to how the houses will be allocated, are confirmed.
The PEC was elected nearly eight months ago and PEC spokesperson Baronise Henry says she has attended every meeting, bar one, when she had a death in the family.
The delays have frustrated Ward 43 councillor and Sub-council 17 chair Elton Jansen, who said at the Sub-council meeting earlier this month that “houses look better than shacks” and that the project is crucial for addressing crime and property values in the area.
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Henry, however, says the PEC was never opposed to the development and welcome it, provided the people currently living in the informal settlements and in Strandfontein backyards are given preference.
Speaking at the Sub-council meeting, Jansen revealed that despite a meeting on 9 October, where PEC members were invited to sign the terms of reference, only four or five of the 12 elected members had done so.
Jansen said the controversy stems from the original proposal for six permanent and six alternate PEC members. However, the community demanded that all 12 people elected at a public meeting in February this year serve as permanent members.
“The members refused to sign the terms of reference because they wanted all 12 elected in the public meeting to be part of the PEC, not six permanent members and six alternative members,” Jansen explained.
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After an appeal to the Human Settlements Directorate, approval was granted for all 12 to serve as permanent members. Despite this concession, several members still haven’t signed.
Henry says that recent delays stemmed from disputes unrelated to the actual project documents.
“There were certain issues that certain elected members of the PEC were not comfortable with, which had nothing to do with the actual documents at that point,” she said.
The issues centred around “the process of the election and the outcome thereof” and “caused the delay and until that was resolved, a certain group of PEC members were not going to be signing”.
No opposition to housing
Henry emphasised there is no fundamental opposition to the project itself.
“I want to make clear that there is no opposition to the housing development in principle,” she said. “I stand firmly on the point every person born in this country and a citizen of this country should be dignified with proper housing.”
However, she stressed that existing residents must be prioritised.
“Our people, all our people of the informal settlement and all our backyard dwellers, must be housed,” Henry said.
She said there is already a strain on infrastructure.
“They’re using the infrastructure already. They are already part of the traffic pile-up. They’re already part of the overflowing sewage,” she said. “If they cannot develop infrastructure alongside the development so that by the time the houses are up and the people are moving in, and the infrastructure has been upgraded to accommodate additional people, then what’s the point?”
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She expressed frustration with existing conditions: “Is it right that we can’t get the infrastructure that we are deserving of, that we don’t take an hour just to get out of Strandfontein so that we can go and earn a living to pay rates and taxes, that our sewerage is spilled out into our streets?”
A critical issue yet to be addressed is what happens to informal settlement residents who don’t qualify for housing. “We’ve got to work through all of those things… what happens to the people who do not qualify for BNG or for housing,” Henry asked.
“There is no use building or developing a housing structure if the informal settlement is still there, then it defeats the object.”
Project background
The Strandfontein Integrated Housing Project on Erf 1212 has been in development for over a decade. Jansen noted that informal settlements existed in the area 11 years ago when he became councillor, and likely 10 years before that.
“This project is dealing with the informal settlements in Strandfontein, but it’s also an opportunity for the backyard dwellers to benefit,” Jansen said.
He argued that proper housing would increase property values in Strandfontein whilst addressing crime issues, as “criminals are running into the informal settlements and gangsters are infiltrating those informal settlements”.
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Councillor Ashley Potts suggested that if the issue isn’t resolved within a certain timeframe, re-elections should be held, noting that escalating construction costs mean delays which make homes more expensive each day.
“There are people playing politics on this PEC, and we should not allow it to continue,” he said.
Sub-council manager Goodman Rorwana indicated that issues regarding people with properties on the development site need resolution, including buy-out plans, but progress depends on establishing a functioning PEC.
The project manager reportedly planned a follow-up meeting to try to get the remaining terms of reference signed. If unsuccessful, officials may need to consider working with a minimum of six members or returning to the community for fresh elections, Rorwana said.
