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King Sabata Dalindyebo (KSD) Local Municipality executive mayor, Nyaniso Nelani, handed over house keys to 12 elated beneficiaries of the New Payne Housing Project, with some having waited over ten years to realise their dream of owning a house.
The handover ceremony was held at the New Payne Community Hall under Ward 30 of the local municipality on February 28.
The housing project, which was supposed to be completed as far back as 2013, was delayed for over a decade after it stalled following a myriad challenges, including registration challenges, with National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC).
A new contractor was appointed in 2021 to revive the project with a total of 74 beneficiaries set to benefit.
The 12 houses that were handed over are part of the 33 houses that form part of the first phase of the total 74 houses.
Nelani said they will be handing over more houses in the coming months, from the first phase of the project, and will await another allocation by the Provincial Department of Human Settlements to get the second phase off the ground.
“We are happy to see that the beneficiaries are indeed deserving of the houses as they are made up of the elderly, people with disabilities and child-headed households,” Nelani said, while handing over one of the houses.
He further expressed his wish for KSD municipality to be granted developer status, not merely implementing agent, when it comes to human settlements, saying this will enable the municipality to build houses for deserving beneficiaries at a faster rate.
“I am elated at having received a new and decent house from government. Previously, my older brother and I were staying in a dilapidated house with water leaking into the house when it is raining,” said Mpumelelo Sontanga (28), one of the beneficiaries.
Sontanga was one of the child-headed households that benefited from the handover.
His mother, who had registered for the house, passed away in 2014 and his father recently passed away in September last year.
The KSD municipality has implored beneficiaries not to sell, or lease for rental, their state-funded houses.
