Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu made this bold declaration on Friday during the launch of the Belhar Gardens Rental Estate in Cape Town.

She said her department had “delivered 4.3 million houses and decent accommodation to our people since 1994 and I would like to give hope to those we have not yet helped. We want to deliver six million by 2019. This will ensure that those who have not benefited are also aided; we put our people first”.

Sisulu said the R200 million Belhar estate was one such project that would provide 692 rental units to beneficiaries who earned a certain monthly income.

The project had, to date, allocated 192 units to beneficiaries earning less than R3500 per month and 437 units to beneficiaries earning under R7500 a month.

The estate was part of a R1.3 billion development that would consist of about 3616 units, and comprised various types of residential units and forms of tenure that had specific economic target markets of “social housing (subsidised rental), open market rental units, student accommodation, open market GAP units, as well as a small number of freestanding open market bonded units”.

The development covered a total land area of 30.3 hectares. The estate used heat pumps instead of conventional geysers to heat water and although this cost more, the technology saved 55 percent in energy consumption and costs, Sisulu said.

A beneficiary – 52-year-old Nombulelo Tsitsa from the Eastern Cape and working as a cleaner in Cape Town – told Sisulu how she had struggled to find decent accommodation and that her new unit would be the first time she would live on her own.

ANA