Unanswered questions regardings Schubart park

STATEMENT BY CLLR BRANDON TOPHAM, DA LEADER IN THE TSHWANE METRO COUNCIL

 

Urgent motion to call city to account on Schubart Park

 

The DA will today propose an urgent motion (attached) to call the Executive Mayor of the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality to account for the city’s failure to plan for the evacuation and refurbishment of Schubart Park.

After years of dithering by successive administrations the housing complex was last week evacuated in haste, after residents set fire to one of the buildings in protest against the suspension of services.

In April the DA warned that Schubart Park was becoming an urban deathtrap and that the Municipality should, as a matter of urgency, regain control of the buildings from illegal landlord, drug lords and violent criminals.

The DA also highlighted the concerns of officials, who told us about the escalating health and safety risks within the complex. Sanitation had broken down and the buildings were being systematically stripped of infrastructure.  

The Executive Mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa downplayed the DA’s concerns. He also failed to comment on the substance of DA proposals to regain control of Schubart Park with least possible human suffering.

Soon after the DA won control of the ward in which Schubart Park is situated in the March municipal election, Cllr Sam Moimane submitted a petition of residents’ concerns, which the Municipality seems to have ignored. An opportunity was again squandered.   

The lip-service of successive ANC administrations in Tshwane can be traced back to 2008 after it became clear that urgent intervention was required to prevent Schubart Park from becoming a danger-zone:

·         In her 2008 Address then Executive Mayor Dr Gwen Ramokgopa said:

‘The occupants of Kruger Park and Schubart Park flats have been given a year’s notice to look for alternative rental during the period when these flats are to be renovated.’

·         In her 2010 Budget Speech Dr Ramokgopa once again said:

‘The Tshwane Housing Company remains an important vehicle that is fully owned by the Municipality for the advancement of our objective of providing affordable rental stock in the city. An amount of R40 million in the next financial year has been allocated among other things to finalise the upgrading of Schubart Park and Kruger Park.’

·         In his 2011 Budget Speech the current Executive Mayor said:
 ‘The Human Settlement and Housing Department will be allocated 18.11% of the capital budget. This will, in rand terms, translate into R576 million. A portion of these funds, R55 million to be exact, will be used to start the overdue upgrading of the Schubart Park and Kruger Park blocks of flats.’
These commitments were never fulfilled, instead the Municipality, through its complete lack of political resolve and leadership, put the lives of residents in Schubart Park and its surroundings in serious danger, only acting when an emergency was already at hand. 
The DA motion will ask the Mayor for a report about the failure of the current administration and its successors to fulfill its promises to secure and refurbish Schubart Park, and the adjoining complex Kruger Park, and how the Municipality intends providing housing to evictees who are still homeless.