Residents of the Diamant Park local community located in the frances baard municipal area are reported to be protesting for housing in the area. The community is demanding for immediate building of houses as well as a verification of the beneficiary list for the houses that are to be built. In response hereto Coghsta provides in an official statement that 852 houses were planned for the area and thus far havent been completed yet. Coghsta provides that this is because the Human Settlements baseline allocation is not accommodative of the provincial housing need and as a result the province has a backlog of 80 000 houses which is reported to have been communicated as the Head of Department, Mr. Bafedile Lenkoe, addressed the community explaining the predicament the department finds itself in with regards to budget. The department has also further commited to have officials of the Department meet with the officials of Sol Plaatjie municipality tomorrow, 19 September 2023, to do a verification of the beneficiary list and to therafter meet the community on Wednesday, 20 September 2023 to give feedback back on the meeting between COGHSTA and Sol Plaatjie.

Journalist: Mbali Masiza
Email: mbalimasiza198@gmail.com