Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation, Lindiwe Sisulu and KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Human Settlements and Public Works, Ms Peggy Nkonyeni have agreed on a permanent solution for the Aloe Ridge Housing Project in Pietermaritzburg.
Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation, Lindiwe Sisulu. Image credit: IOL
This was during a meeting in Pietermaritzburg between the above-mentioned parties. Some units at Aloe Ridge were invaded soon after the project was finished, by military veterans who did not have their own homes, as well as opportunists who invaded housing units to rent them out.
In a meeting that took place yesterday, it was resolved that the delivery of houses for qualifying military veterans will be prioritised across the country. The KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government has already set aside close to R100-million for military veterans housing projects.
For the qualifying military veterans at Aloe Ridge, Minister Sisulu announced that together with the Provincial Government, they have identified a piece of land for the implementation of the projects.
“As a caring government we made a commitment that we will provide our military veterans with houses, training, and medical assistance among other things. We have provided some houses for our military veterans, but others are yet to benefit, and this is what we are going to prioritise going forward,” said Sisulu.
Minister Sisulu emphasised that the government has a responsibility to respond to the plight and restore the dignity of the military veterans who sacrificed so much for a freedom we all enjoy today.
The Minister also implored Provinces across the country to prioritise housing for the qualifying military veterans.
In the meeting, the affected veterans committed to cooperate with the government’s effort to move them out of invaded units at Aloe Ridge. The veterans also committed to assist in ensuring that opportunists who are renting out invaded housing units, are stopped from doing so and the keys to those units are returned within a month.
