Military veterans get housing from the City

17-10-2014

 

The National Department of Human Settlements, together with the City of Joburg will on Monday hand over houses to three military veterans in honour of the role they played in the liberation of the country.
 

The handover will take place at Fleurhof Extension 2, one of the newest and largest integrated housing developments in Gauteng.
 

The City of Johannesburg City Manager Trevor Fowler, Member of the Mayoral Committee for Housing, Councillor Dan Bovu and Chief Operations Officer Gerald Dumas are expected to be among top officials who will be present when Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu hands over the keys to the three military veterans, whose names will only be unveiled at the event.

According to the 2011 Military Veterans Act, a military veteran is any South African who rendered military service to any of the military organisations, former statutory and liberation armies that were involved on all sides of South Africa’s liberation war from 1960 to 1993; served in the then Union Defence Force before 1961 or became a member of the South African National Defence Force after 1994 and has completed his or her military training and no longer performs military duties, and has not been dishonourably discharged from his or her respective military organisation.
 

Monday’s handover in Fleurhof forms part of a national rollout of more than 5 000 houses to military veterans by the national Department of Human Settlements.

The rollout is expected to be completed by 2017.

“It is our intention to clear the backlog of all military veterans who seek houses and shelter in less than three years,” Minister Sisulu said.
 

“We will be launching projects in all nine provinces. We want to build [our military veterans] decent houses to restore their dignity and to honour their contribution to our freedom. This is a national priority,” she said.
 

Johannesburg Member of the Mayoral Committee for Housing Cllr Dan Bovu said there was no better way to honour the contribution and sacrifices made by freedom than by providing them with decent housing.

Fleurhof Extension 2 is a 9 600-unit, mixed use housing development southwest of Johannesburg covering a 440ha area in the City’s Region C.
 

Winner of the 2014 Govan Mason Awards’ Best Finance-Linked Individual Subsidy Programme (FLISP) category, the project was completed earlier this year and already thousands of residents have taken occupation of their new homes.