DA wants transparency in Marikana housing

Economic Freedom Fighters supporters tried to disrupt the sympolic handover of houses to Marikana beneficiaries. Picture: ANA

Economic Freedom Fighters supporters tried to disrupt the sympolic handover of houses to Marikana beneficiaries. Picture: ANA

Published Jan 14, 2016

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Marikana - The list of Marikana housing project beneficiaries needed to be made public, the Democratic Alliance said on Thursday.

“This has become necessary because the situation has escalated so considerably that public order police had to be called in to get the situation under control. However, the atmosphere is still very tense,” said Makashule Gana, the DA spokesperson on human settlements.

“Since the handover, it has been reported that violent protests has ensued in the area by residents who allege that the beneficiary list was not compiled in a transparent manner, and that the recipients of the houses are not miners. Protesters also assert that some of the recipients are not even from the area,” he said.

Gana said the land was donated by Lonmin platinum mine to its employees following the 2012 Marikana massacre and that these houses should therefore have been for these employees and mineworkers.

Gana conducted a follow-up oversight visit to the Marikana housing project after completed houses were allocated to recipients last week.

North West premier Supra Mahumapelo handed over two houses, to Piet Stompi Tlou and Dorah Diremela, on Thursday, amid a protest from Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) members led by Napoleon Webster.

The group wanted the houses to be allocated to Lonmin mineworkers, claiming that the houses were built on land donated by Lonmin following the 2012 Marikana tragedy when 34 mineworkers were killed in police action during a wage strike.

A total of 44 were killed during the protracted and often violent wage strike in Marikana in August 2012. The 34 mineworkers were killed on August 16 when the police fired at them, while 10 other people, including two policemen and two Lonmin security guards, were killed in the preceding week.

Gana said the DA would continue to do everything possible to ensure the residents and mineworkers of Marikana received quality basic services and dignified human settlements they were promised.

Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, who joined Mahumapelo in the symbolic hand-over of the houses last week, said her department was committed to the provision of decent housing for needy South Africans and that government was highly concerned about the needs of vulnerable groups.

“We are happy to be here to hand over houses to the miners but also to the community of Marikana as a whole. We promised to help all 22 mining towns in distress and today we are here to start that journey,” she said at the handover.

The Marikana housing Project would yield 2,600 units upon completion. A total of 544 housing units have so far been completed. These include 252 units that were part of a community residential programme and another 292 breaking new ground (BNG) houses. A BNG house is a state subsidy house given to qualifying beneficiaries.

The project will also cater for Finance Linked Individual Subsidy Programme (FLISP) and bonded houses.

The Marikana housing project is part of the government’s plan to revitalise distressed mining communities following the Social Accord which was signed by President Jacob Zuma in October 2012 as a commitment to accelerate efforts to upgrade human settlements and related facilities in mining towns across the country.

African News Agency

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