Ekurhuleni halts process of handing over serviced stands

According to the city, the disruptions have resulted in financially unviable costs to the city, including contractor standing time payments, and recurrent repairs due to vandalism.

The City of Ekurhuleni has temporarily halted the process of handing over serviced stands, and the repair of damaged water and sanitation installations at Daveyton Extension 14 due to repeated community disruptions and vandalism.

According to the city, the disruptions have resulted in financially unviable costs to the city, including contractor standing time payments, and recurrent repairs due to vandalism.

A spokesperson for City of Ekurhuleni, Nhlanhla Cebekhulu, said before the disruptions, the city had repaired damaged geysers and bathroom equipment to make the stands ready for allocation.

"To that effect, the Member of the Mayoral Committee for Human Settlements, Lesiba Mpya, has held successive community consultation meetings on 18 October and 29 November 2020 in preparation for a smooth allocation of the stands to the rightful beneficiaries.

"A preliminary allocation to 16 beneficiaries was done before the community disruptions and intimidation of beneficiaries started. The beneficiaries were mainly backyard dwellers of Daveyton," Cebekhulu said.

Cebekhulu said once all the issues that held back the completion of the project and handover of the serviced stands are resolved, the city will resume its work.

"The contractor will therefore hand over the site to security officials to prevent further vandalism of property, while the city intervenes to prepare for the resumption of the smooth allocation of stands.

"The Daveyton Extension 14 serviced stand project has a yield of 483 units, and 96% of the stands are ready for occupation," Cebekhulu said.

The project comprised zoned stands with piped water, flushing toilets, water geysers, and sewer and stormwater infrastructure.

The stands have title deeds to be handed over to the beneficiaries to secure their right of ownership.

(With Inputs from South African Government Press Release)