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 to build 40 RDP houses.

Speaking at the Tshwane House municipal headquarters‚ Msimanga said the houses would be built in Atteridgeville and that the first families had already been selected.

The mayor said keeping the four-room mansion was unnecessary as it benefited only one family‚ rather than providing shelter‚ as well as an asset and dignity to needy families.

Msimanga said the selection process for the allocation of the houses‚ to be completed next year‚ would be based on the provision of homes to 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 in his State of the City Address on Thursday.

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 is currently renting a backroom in Mamelodi.

He said wheelchair-bound Joshua Toka‚ who lives with his wife in Atteridgeville‚ would also receive a home.

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

By building the houses using alternative building technologies‚ the mayor said he hoped the administration would be setting a different and improved standard for low-cost housing.

“The construction of these houses will commence at the beginning of May … when the procurement processes have been finalised‚” Msimanga said.

"It is anticipated that they will be completed by the end of May 2019 and unveiled in the month of June of that year.”