City has now provided over 8000 title deeds under Mayor Mashaba’s administration
14 November 2019
This morning, the MMC for Housing, Cllr Meshack Van Wyk, and I joined officials from the City of Johannesburg’s Department of Housing as we handed over 94 title deeds to beneficiaries in Zandspruit.
The number of title deeds that have been handed out under this new administration is now at 8 095, almost double the number of title deeds the City provided to residents since the dawn of our democracy under previous administrations.
The delivery of title deeds in this part of Zandspruit follows the proclamation of Extension 10 as a township in January 2019, which enabled the City of Johannesburg to extend basic services to the area.
Indeed, water and sanitation, tar roads, Eskom Prepaid Electricity, Street names and services by Pikitup and Johannesburg Water are currently being provided in Extension 10.
This is the first of 406 title deeds to be handed over in Zandspruit.
As we look at new and innovative ways of addressing housing challenges in Joburg, we are turning our focus to site and service stands. Therefore, the City is also working on 701 future site and service stands in Zandspruit where residents will be given title deeds to serviced sections of land to build their own homes.
It is important to highlight that, including the building of tar roads in the area, this project is the first major development in Zandspruit since the dawn of democracy.
We are indeed committed to continue addressing the inherited housing backlog, which sits at over 300 000 units, that has left many of our residents without a place to truly call home. It has been the primary goal of the administration to restore dignity to those that have been forgotten.
As a pro-poor government, one of our top priorities is fast tracking the delivery of title deeds across the City of Johannesburg. We also took an important step in addressing the spatial inequality associated with apartheid-era development planning through the Inner City Revitalisation Programme.
This landmark programme has already attracted over R30 billion in expected investment value with 27 developments currently underway in the inner city.
This new administration has further sought to fast track to how we address the housing backlog by adopting the Inclusionary Housing: Incentives, Regulations and Mechanisms Framework. This requires and incentivises private developers to dedicate 30% of new residential developments to affordable housing.
The adoption of the Inclusionary Housing Framework affirms the commitment of the multi-party government to build an inclusive society that provides meaningful redress through pro-poor development.
This brings real, fundamental change (Diphetogo) to the forgotten residents that have been waiting for many years.
I would like to thank the DA caucus as well as members of our coalition government; the IFP, ACDP, COPE, UDM and Freedom Front Plus for their continued support in delivering quality basic services to our residents.
I am also thankful for the contributions of the EFF which, although not a member of the coalition, votes with us on an issue by issue basis.
Issued Tony Taverna-Turisan, Director: Mayoral Communications, 14 November 2019
