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Funds from sale of Tshwane mayoral mansion to house needy families

Tshwane Mayor Solly Msimanga
Tshwane Mayor Solly Msimanga
Image: Sandile Ndlovu

Tshwane mayor Solly Msimanga has made good on his promise to use the R5.1-million raised from the sale of the metro’s mayoral mansion for the building of 40 RDP houses for deserving families.

In his State of the City Address delivered at the Tshwane municipal headquarters, Tshwane House, in Pretoria on Thursday, Msimanga said the funds will be used to build the houses in Atteridgeville.

The mayor said keeping the four-room mansion was unnecessary as it benefitted one family against providing a roof, property ownership, asset base and dignity to needy families.

Msimanga said the selection process for the allocation of the houses, to be completed next year, will be based on the provision of homes to well deserving families in need of housing from all sectors of the community.

“This is in line with the City’s vision of creating integrated communities…we have already started with the identification of beneficiaries for these houses. Top of our priority is addressing special cases first,” he said.

Msimanga said beneficiaries of the proceeds of the mayoral mansion include Evelin Khuboni, an elderly woman who has been waiting for an RDP house since 1999 and currently renting a backroom in Mamelodi.

He said also to benefit from the mayoral mansion proceeds is wheelchair-bound Joshua Toka, who lives with his wife in Atteridgeville,

The mayor said the proceeds of the sale further presents the municipality with the opportunity to explore and advocate alternative building technologies that are reliable, durable, aesthetically pleasing environmentally friendly and bigger but affordable.

He said the houses will be built using alternative building technologies, saying in doing so the administration will be setting a different and standard for low cost housing.

“The construction of these houses will commence at the beginning of May…when the procurement processes have been finalised and it is anticipated that they will be completed by the end of May 2019 and unveiled in the month of June of that year,” Msimanga said.

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