Minister Human Settlements Lindiwe Sisulu together with the Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe , the Premier of North West, Supra Mahumapelo and the acting North West MEC for Local Government and Human Settlements Wendy Nelson today handed over the R700 million Marikana Housing Project in Rustenburg, North West.

Minister Sisulu emphasised that decent homes have to be allocated to the vulnerable groups. “We are happy to be here to hand over houses to the miners but also to the community of Marikana as a whole. We promised to help all 22 mining towns in distress and today we are here to start that journey, Human Settlements is the key driver” added Minister Sisulu.

One of the beneficiaries Dora Diremela (75) has been living with her six children on the surrounding farms for a very long time. “There was no clean water and electricity at the farms, we used to struggle a lot. But now I feel blessed, I will have access to clean water since I will be living in this beautiful house, my life is complete, my dignity is restored”, said Diremela.

Marikana Housing Project will yield 2600 units upon completion. Presently 544 housing units have been completed, 252 are part of community residential units and 292 BNG houses. The project will also cater for Finance Linked Individual Subsidy Programme (FLISP) and bonded houses.

The Marikana housing project is part of the government’s plan to revitalise of distressed mining communities following the Social Accord which was signed by President Jacob Zuma in October 2012 as a commitment to accelerate efforts to upgrade human settlements in mining towns across the country.
 

Issued by Ministry of Human Settlements
 

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