Human Settlements Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi says she will directly approach National Treasury to get funding that will buy land for shack dwellers living on railway tracks in Cape Town.
That’s after the City had refused to purchase land on behalf of the Housing Development Agency.
Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says it’s not part of their mandate to purchase land.
“I agree with the MP about the City’s responsibility versus the National Human Settlements’ responsibility. We have clear and separate delineated responsibilities in law and in the implementation protocol. We are sticking to our end of the bargain in the implementation protocol. That’s what we signed”.
The HDA, the City, and PRASA all form part of the Implementation Protocol, which seeks to ensure that shack dwellers are resettled in a new area.
The Municipality returned R50 million it got from the Human Settlements Department, which was reserved for the purchase of land back to National Treasury.
Now the Finance department says it won’t release that money until certain procedures are followed.
The Minister has also launched a dispute after the City refused to purchase land.
Kubayi says they will start the process to get that money back.
“We will utilise the land of dispute to the City of Cape Town, packaged and applied to National Treasury to give us the R50 million so that we can transfer it to HDA so that HDA can purchase land and they can do their studies, service there so that people can be permanently resettled”.
