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Programme Director
MEC Joe Maswanganyi
Mayor of Lephalale, Mr Mabote
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

Last year I visited Lephalale Municipality to launch the Thabo Mbeki town - one of the community projects where an integrated approach to development could be easily absorbed. Among the issues I raised with the mayor, Mr Mabote, was my wish to see the growth and further development of the Thabo Mbeki town and the entire Lephalale area - then called Ellisras - and I must say that I never thought that the assurances made by the mayor would be realised so soon.

I have been following the developments in this area and they are impressive. The pace at which development is taking place here should give all of us hope that in the next couple of years, we will be able to turn the tables in the fight against poverty and inadequate civil infrastructure.

It is therefore heartening to be with you today to celebrate the great strides we're making in changing the lives of our people for the better. This because the Marapong hostel redevelopment project, the launch of which has assembled us today, is but one of those projects that have been initiated since the launch of the Thabo Mbeki project - which implies that the wheels of delivery remain oiled and are running well at Lephalale.

The urgency in upgrading the existing hostels is deliberate and everyone who has been fortunate to tour a number of hostels in various parts of the country will agree with me that the necessity of the hostel redevelopment programme is critical, hence we've pushed for projects of this nature to be undertaken throughout the country as a matter of urgency.

Most of the public sector hostels are in a poor state and in certain instances, like it was the case with the Marapong hostel, sewerage and electricity services are non-operational and the general living conditions are unacceptable and unhealthy for human settlement.

The government thought it wise to prioritise such hostels ahead of other projects in the province and elsewhere in the country. And I would like to thank the provincial government, the local council, Morudu Community Development Strategies and the local negotiating team as well as the beneficiaries for the cooperation that they demonstrated throughout the implementation of this project.

The eagerness to see this project succeed has definitely helped you unbundle the complexities that it revealed - mainly pertaining to the number of beneficiaries who could have been excluded from the process due to the number of units we were able to deliver. As you know, our hostel redevelopment policy requires that the existing single sex dwellings be converted into family units and it was impossible for us to upgrade this hostel into 330 family units as per number of beneficiaries without making separate structural additions.

The situation prompted us to come up with additional semi-detached houses closer to the hostel, and in order to ensure that we do not depart from our goal and policy, we've made sure that these additional units are designed and situated in such a way that they ensure maximum aesthetics and avoid the typical barracks-like accommodation so often used in the past.

Furthermore, it is our aim to ensure that hostel dwellers are fully integrated with their surrounding communities and the additional houses that have been allocated for this project will help us achieve that. I therefore have no doubt whatsoever that the development of this hostel will help change the living conditions of the residents and help create an environment in which our people will be safe and secure, and this development will benefit other projects in the vicinity. Those who are informally employed will have the opportunity to improve their business potential, which will benefit the community as well.

We have already spent R32,6 million to upgrade two hostels in this province alone and we are in the process of upgrading 11 other hostels in this province. In the entire country we have already spent R775,6 million to upgrade 66 hostels and 47 more are in the process of being upgraded.

The Lephalale type of programme we have here is but one model of development the Department has introduced. We also have the human settlement redevelopment programme going on in this area as part of our objective of improving the lives of our people through the upgrading of the existing human settlements. We hope that all these projects will transform the Lephalale community into a proud and infrastructurally competent environment.

The human settlement redevelopment programme is primarily aimed at existing residential environments and projects that address adverse physical conditions in our surroundings. We are currently implementing such programmes in various parts of the country. In short the programme entails the following:

* Infrastructure upgrading to facilitate development of depressed areas
* Land interventions to enhance the integration of towns and cities
* Re-planning and redevelopment of existing residential areas to clear slump areas, and
* Enhancement of the projects undertaken under the new housing subsidy scheme

It is through this programme that we have managed to develop a fully serviced central business area, as well as the bulk water supply for Marapong extensions 1, 2, and 3. Further advance planning for future development will help us sustain this pace of delivery.

The aim of this government is to create sustainable development and building sustainable, economically viable local structures. The adoption of the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Strategy and the Urban Renewal Programme has helped us channel our resources towards an integrated approach to development. The success of these approaches will therefore depend on the manner in which our local authorities are capable of planning and initiating developmental projects in their localities, and so far the Lephalale Municipality has succeeded in that.

Now that this development is progressing in this area, the next activity that requires the immediate attention of all our communities is how to deal with the scourge of immoral patterns of behaviour.

It is the abuse of alcohol and substances (drugs), which ultimately result in a display of unacceptable behaviour generally foreign to our culture.

Every one of us here should play a role in the eradication of crime, child and woman abuse and the general destabilisation of communities by bad elements in our midst.

This is a problem that can only be solved by you and not government on its own. All the strange behaviour we've heard of or seen happens where other people are spectators or witnesses.

For how long will many amongst us remain unmoved by these anomalies? You are the only ones who can bring peace around yourselves.

I thank you

Issued by Ministry of Housing

06 December 2001