The North West Department of Agriculture Land Reform and Rural Development has drawn the ire of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee for the squalid conditions in which farm dwellers at Tigane near Klerksdorp live.
Members of Parliament conducted a joint oversight visit at the informal settlement on Friday.
The affected farm dwellers were evicted from various farms in the North West last year.
Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Zwelivelile Mandela says, the department in the province has failed to take responsibility for stalling the project…
“When we then ask on time lines when will the permanent structures be built, what is R7 million allocated for, what will it achieve in bettering the lives of our people, that is also not forth coming and now there is a shift from the Department of Agriculture Land Reform and Rural Development to say actually the housing is responsibility of COGTA and some are even looking at Human Settlement but there is no real ownership of this is the plan we have in place.”
Renewed hope for residents of Qalabotja Informal Settlement
“You needed various stakeholders, municipalities, human settlement to come on board. So we are trying to coordinate all those stakeholders so that they can play their part. So far we are but of course the pace is very slow as you can see it is only it is only the land and of course you can see the temporary structure. So we are trying to coordinate them municipality bringing water on weekly basis.”
