Houses for Msunduzi families
Sibusiso Mboto
5 April 2004
There was jubilation on Saturday when Housing Minister Bridget Mabandla handed over keys to more than 1 000 families to unlock doors to their new homes.
The occasion was the official opening of Acacia Park in the Msunduzi Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal, where the first batch of 300 two-bedroom housing units have been built to accommodate 1 200 families.
The next phase, which will comprise three-bedroom units, is already under construction, and authorities are optimistic that at least 2 000 families will be housed through the project by the end of the year.
The project caters for people who earn between R24 000 and R42 000 per annum.
The Acacia Park Housing Development is the result of a partnership between the municipality, the Msunduzi Housing Association, the provincial housing department, and the National Housing Finance Corporation.
"Government and the housing department are doing everything to ensure that our people enjoy
their Constitutionally enshrined right to proper housing", Mabandla said. "But as part of the social contract, it is essential that people also carry out their end of the bargain."
This, she said, meant maintaining high standards of hygiene and paying for rent and services.
Colleen Reed, who has been living with her in-laws because she and her husband could not afford a new house, could not contain her excitement at owning a new home.
"Being married for over five years but without a house to call our own is now a past experience, one can really start planning for the future," she said.
Source: BuaNews
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