The House Chairperson for Committees in the National Council of Provinces, Mr Dennis Ryder, has praised delegates to the Council for their strong commitment to serving South Africans in all conditions.
Mr Ryder led a delegation to Philippi yesterday, at the Nompumelelo Housing project and the Sheffield Road Development project as part of the NCOP Local Government Week programme. The Local Government Week (LGW) is a key feature of the NCOP's annual programme that aims to foster national reflection on issues impacting local government and find solutions for improved service delivery and good governance.
The delegation started its first day with a setback. There were no representatives from the City of Cape Town or the Provincial government during the visit to both projects. The Delegation only received verbal presentations instead of written reports about the status of the projects, with many questions left unanswered.
The Nompumelelo Housing Project, the first site visited, exhibited the most significant challenges. These included delays in project completion, ambiguous budget allocations, and disputes within the community regarding beneficiary selection.
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The Sheffield Road Development project forms part of the N2 Gateway Project in Philippi, demonstrating measurable progress. The project aims to provide housing opportunities on two adjacent parcels of land: one owned by the Housing Development Agency and the other, Farm 597 portion 15, owned by the City of Cape Town. Both parcels are being developed in accordance with the City of Cape Town design criteria and by-laws. Upon completion, the project will deliver 384 housing units.
Both projects face similar challenges that contribute to delays, most notably issues associated with the City of Cape Town's new electronic town planning system. The NCOP Delegation recommended that the metropolitan municipality review the implementation of this system.
Most importantly, the delegation realised that the two projects fall under the provincial sphere of government. "There might be some reasons for absence of the provincial government and the City of Cape Town, as they were informed about the site visits and were requested to share any additional information regarding all the sites," said NCOP Chief, Mr Kenneth Mmoiemang, who is also a member of Phillippi's NCOP Delegation.
Although these projects do not fall within the jurisdiction of local government, delegation members expressed significant concerns and issued several recommendations to site leadership. They requested the urgent submission of comprehensive presentations by Friday, 19 September 2025.
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"Once again let me express my gratitude to the NCOP delegation, to diligently conduct the oversight, although some questions were not answered. There also appears that are deeper challenges that require further discussion," said Mr Ryder in his closing remarks during the last site visit.
