Presidential visit to the Hillside View integrated housing development in Mangaung, Free State.
President Cyril Ramaphosa at the Rugby World Cup in Japan. Image credit: The South African
At the core of the human factor lies the innate need to survive, to thrive, and to grow in every possible way towards self-actualisation. For this, humanity needs a nurturing environment; first a home then a community, a society, a country and the world.
In pursuit of this ideal, as detailed in Outcome 8 – sustainable human settlements and improved quality of household life – President Cyril Ramaphosa will launch, and officially hand over houses to the rightful beneficiaries in Hillside View this coming weekend. This mixed development project includes houses for the bonded market which could be obtained through Finance Linked Individual Subsidies offered by government for low to middle income first time home buyers, 600 Breaking New Ground houses, of which over 230 are complete, 50 houses for military veterans and houses for the Restitution Programme.
The state of the art, environmentally conscious Social Housing Units further down the road completes this programme. Currently at Phase 1, when complete this project will yield 839 units of subsidised rental accommodation for low income citizens.
This project aptly responds to the challenges of human settlements and spatial disparities as described in the National Development Plan, which states, “The inefficiencies and inequities in South Africa’s settlement patterns are deeply entrenched as apartheid left a terrible spatial legacy. Where people live and work matters.”
