ANC ‘showing middle finger’ on District 6

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Cape Town - Members of the provincial legislature gave the National Department of Rural Development and Land Reform a tongue-lashing after it emerged that only 139 homes have been allocated to the claimants of District Six and that 1062 claimants are still awaiting homes. And to make matters worse, the builders, Fikile Contractors, have abandoned the project. “The treatment District Six claimants are receiving from the ANC-led government is uncalled for, unacceptable and completely avoidable. Residents should have been returned to their beloved area ages ago,” the chairperson of the standing committee on human settlements, Matlhodi Maseko, said. She asked why exactly the department had opted to use a Durban-based contractor and not local contractors. The Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, was again absent from the briefing. She had been invited to brief the committee on the progress made on the District Six restitution project.

“The minister’s absence confirms that she and the ANC in general do not care and, quite frankly, are showing the middle finger to District Six claimants.

“This was the second attempt to engage with the minister and her department, after they failed to appear before the committee on May 22,” Maseko said.

Director of Rural Infrastructure Jimmy Freyser said the contractors were in a financial predicament and suffered financial constraints.

“They committed themselves to the project, and initially we didn’t think they were cash-strapped. We tried our best to assist Fikile, to a point where we could no longer,” Freyser said.

He said they handed a letter of termination to the contractors in March. At the same time, the department said its project had been subjected to a number of unlawful occupations of vacant dwellings.

According to them, the units which were unoccupied by beneficiaries were invaded by people who did not agree with the allocation project.

“Fikile Contractors were very slow and they had inadequate staff, which made it difficult for the department,” Freyser said.

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