The North West housing department has dismissed the findings of the province’s housing portfolio committee on the quality and number of houses being constructed in Taung.
Departmental spokesperson Mandla Mathebula on Monday said the report, based on an oversight visit to Taung by the portfolio committee on developmental local government and housing, is factually incorrect and misleading.
He said the report, issued on October 31, alleges that the construction of houses is ”moving at a snail’s pace with only 60 houses having been completed so far”.
The report further alleges that the quality of the houses is questionable.
Mathebula said 242 houses have been completed, and not 60 as alleged.
There are no problems regarding the quality of the houses and ”any allegation that the quality is poor is obviously from people not qualified to judge the quality of houses”.
”We have explained this before and we want to reiterate it that only a qualified engineer can assess the quality of a housing structure,” he said.
”We are not going to entertain any allegation from the street, as this will waste our valuable time. Any person who has a problem with the quality of the houses that we have built must direct such a complaint to the National Home Builders’ Registration Council,” said Mathebula.
He further dismissed allegations that local contractors are concerned about their non-involvement by the main contractor, Toro ya Afrika.
”There’s no way that the main contractor cannot involve local contractors. So, rest assured that even in Taung, local contractors are involved,” he said.
”The statement issued by the portfolio committee contains a lot of inaccurate information,” said Mathebula.
He said he was asked why the legislature could issue such inaccurate information to the media. The problem appears to be with the communication unit of the legislature.
Mathebula said he has lost confidence in the legislature’s communication unit. — Sapa