The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Northern Cape wants to know why the Williston housing project ground to a halt. This follows a commitment by the Premier, Dr Zamani Saul, at the launch of the three-phase housing project in February last year, that 50 of the 150 planned houses would be ready for beneficiaries by November 2023.
Seventeen months later, only the outer structures of five houses, without roofs, have been built. Bricks and building material are scattered across the construction site with no sign of contractors or security for the past two months.
The housing project promises increasingly seem like an election ploy. Aside from the houses being dangled as vote-winning tools by the ANC, the project was later also used to instill fear amongst the community who was falsely warned that if they voted for the DA on 29 May, the project would be terminated.
With phase 1 not yet completed by the provincial ANC government, it is doubtful that the project will achieve its scheduled completion date of 2025. Instead, it is more likely that this project is going to follow in the footsteps of the failed Amandelboom nurses housing project, leaving housing units to be stripped by criminals and eroded by the weather.
The DA is seeking urgent answers in relation to the current and future status of the Williston housing project. We want to know who the contractors are, why work stopped and how much payment was made to the contractors. Given the prevalence of blocked housing projects due to a range of issues, including a lack of available bulk infrastructure, we also want to know whether any such factors may have played a role in the halting of this project.
The DA has written to the MEC of COGHSTA, Bentley Vass, and parliamentary questions will also be submitted through the legislature. The people of Williston deserve answers and the houses promised to them.