27 May 2018

Tlokweng Sub-district Council has handed eight houses to destitute persons in its jurisdiction amid an outcry of shortage of plots which has the potential to cripple the initiative.

The shortage of land had already forced the sub-council to downgrade the houses to five in the current financial year.

The council’s senior assistant council secretary, Mr Stephen Motlogelwa said shortage of land had impacted on the implementation of the destitute housing programme, as some of the potential beneficiaries did not have plots.

He said it had forced the council to have back to back meetings with the Tlokweng Land Board which in turn delayed construction and handover of the houses. He said they could have been handed sometimes last year.

Owing to the challenges, the sub council was forced to only build for those with plots during the 2018/19 financial year while they continued to engage the Tlokweng Land Board.

Mr Motlogelwa said they were working on a memorandum of understanding with the land board to address some of the challenges which could affect housing destitute persons.

He also pointed that the sub council has resorted to building cottages as opposed to two bedroomed houses they used to build, adding that the downgrade was forced by limited funding.

Mr Motlogelwa pointed out that each house was allocated P75 000 despite that construction was expensive.

He said even the money allocated was not sufficient to cover the costs of the whole house hence they roped in the Tlokweng Welfare Society to assist with some of the finishing touches.

Tlokweng Welfare Society chairperson, Mr Sadique Mojanaga said it was in the nature of the Muslim community to help the needy.

He said as Muslims living in Tlokweng, they came together to form the welfare society, adding that it was a blessing to help the needy and orphans.

He further regretted that the media has associated Muslims with extremists, and said their religion outlawed killings and preached peace, love and compassion.

Tlokweng Member of Parliament, Mr Masego Segokgo made an appeal to beneficiaries to look beyond the hiccups and challenges they faced, and start a year chapter as they had houses and were no longer counted among those without houses. ENDS