The African National Congress’s housing projects in Tshwane are ”radical and racially driven” and compromise the residents’ quality of life for political purposes, the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) said on Friday.
FF+ councillor Conrad Beyers said a report, being considered by the corporate and shared services committee, showed the housing projects would target parks and open land in Pretoria and Centurion belonging to the Tshwane metro. The committee approves the council’s decisions with regards to the alienation and expropriation of the city’s immovable property.
Beyers said this would take away more than half the amount of open space presently available.
The current Tshwane Open Space Framework prescribes that urban areas should have 2,4 hectares of open space for every 1 000 residents.
”The report proposes that this rate should be decreased to one hectare per 1 000 residents,” said Beyers.
The housing project, known as the Tshwane Spatial Development Strategy: 2010 and Beyond, envisages that up to 212 000 low-cost houses could be erected in open spaces in established residential areas in Pretoria and Centurion.
”The ANC’s plan to reduce open spaces in the city to build low-cost houses will diminish the quality of life of all residents, both the new and established communities.
”They [ANC] are prepared to compromise the quality of life of residents for political purposes. Open space is one of the most important assets of urban communities and should be preserved,” he said.
Beyers said there were more effective ways to address the municipality’s housing problems.
”The FF+ proposes that open spaces that are earmarked for low-cost housing schemes should rather be developed for market related projects. The considerable incomes generated from these projects could then be used to fund large-scale housing projects where it is needed most urgently, such as Soshanguve, Mabopane, Ga-Rankuwa, Temba and Hammanskraal”. – Sapa