North West MEC for Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs, Gaoage Oageng Molapisi, on Friday handed over six houses to beneficiaries at Bokamoso and Thekwane villages during the Phase five Accelerated Service Delivery Programme at Bokamoso and Thekwane villages in the Rustenburg Local Municipality.
Molapisi indicated that they are now aiming to ensure that new housing projects are connected to infrastructure and social amenities in order to create communities where residents can live, work and access services without being isolated.
“Our mandate as the department goes beyond simply building houses. It is about creating sustainable human settlements and improving the quality of life for residents by ensuring that they have access to basic services,” he said. The programme was led by Premier Lazarus Kagiso Mokgosi who handed over a newly built house to a 58 year old, Rre Situzu Nqelembila.
Mokgosi described this restoration of dignity as an “important aspect of living a dignified life,” framing it as part of the government’s broader mission to fight inequality and discrimination.
According to the departmental spokesperson, Lerato Gambu, Mokgosi described this as an important aspect of living a dignified life.
“According to Mokgosi, the handover came at the right time as we celebrate Human Rights, urging us to accelerate the fight against inequality and discrimination in all its forms.
“Premier Mokgosi said government is prioritising housing developments that are fully integrated with infrastructure and social amenities. According to him, this approach aims to address historical spatial inequalities by ensuring that new housing developments have access to basic services and social amenities. He further emphasised that this vision will only be realised if all stakeholders adhere to the principles of the District Development Model (DDM),” said Gambu.
“For many years our focus has been on the number of houses built. While this helped to reduce the housing backlog we are facing, we have realised that in doing so we sometimes overlooked other basic services such as reliable water supply, sanitation and electricity,” said Mokgosi.
Molapisi and Mokgosi, who were accompanied by the MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development, Madoda Sambatha, the MEC for Public Works and Roads, Elizabeth Mokua, and the Head of Department of Human Settlements, Kgomotso Mahlobo, shared the view that suggests access to basic services remains a critical part of government’s housing mandate.
Out of a total of 250 housing units in Bokamoso, 161 houses have been built, while in Thekwane 43 houses have been built out of a total of 50 houses.
