Ziyanda Sidumo
3 December 2008
Christmas came early for Delft residents as 1 000 houses were handed over by the Minister of Housing, Lindiwe Sisulu, yesterday at the N2 Gateway on sites 7 to 9.
Two thousand houses have already been handed over by Sisulu in the past two months and her department plans to hand over more at the beginning of 2009.
The minister urged the new homeowners not to rent out or sell their houses as they needed them to make a better life for themselves.
Sisulu also pleaded with those who did not want to move from Joe Slovo to Delft to co-operate as the Department of Housing believed it was better for them to stay in a brick house rather than a shack.
Homes were allocated according to the N2 Gateway policy, with 70 percent going to former residents of informal settlements and 30 percent to backyard dwellers.
A proud house owner, Noluvuyo Tshiyane, 24, said she had been on a waiting list for three years and she was extremely happy to be receiving a house of her own. "I'm speechless."
Jean Jantjies, 55, said it had not sunk in yet that she now owned a house after eight years on the waiting list.
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