Durban — KwaZulu-Natal Public Works and Infrastructure MEC Martin Meyer has vowed to recapture all 300 government homes that have been hijacked by alleged hitmen in Ulundi.
The houses and flats were built to accommodate MECs and senior officials of the old KwaZulu and provincial governments using the Ulundi legislature after the 1994 polls.
The legislature was abandoned in 2004 when the ANC took over power from the IFP. The provincial government under the ANC not only abandoned the Ulundi legislature but also decided to relocate all government departments to Pietermaritzburg, leaving the legislature, government offices and residential units empty.
Speaking to the Daily News, Meyer’s spokesperson Steve Bhengu said the MEC received information that about 300 government houses were being used by rogue elements, some of them alleged hitmen using the houses as hideouts.
Bhengu said the MEC, as part of his oversight visit to all buildings under his department, would be in Ulundi on Thursday (today) to get first-hand information about the illegal occupation of these state houses.
“We will recapture all the houses from anyone who got it illegally. The MEC will not tolerate that (hijackings), therefore he will make sure the government gets all the houses back.”
Bhengu hinted that as part of the solution, Meyer was contemplating transferring the houses to the local municipality to turn them into social housing which would benefit needy people. He added that the department also learnt that there were 20 houses in Richards Bay under the uMhlathuze Local Municipality which were also being illegally occupied, vowing to also recapture all of them from illegal occupants.
Apart from the hijacked houses, Meyer also set his sights on the Ulundi legislature. Bhengu said the MEC would come up with a proposal on what should be done about the building itself, which had become a white elephant.
The legislature building is seldom used by the provincial house of traditional leaders and the king during imbizos with amakhosi.
From Ulundi, the MEC would proceed to Nongoma to inspect the amphitheatre which was nearing completion. The project, in the vicinity of the Enyokeni Royal Palace, would be used as a venue for the annual Umkhosi Womhlanga (Reed Dance ceremony). The event always attracts thousands of maidens and has been held in an open field which drew concerns from parents about the well-being of the young maidens who had to stand in the sun or the rain throughout the day. Bhengu said the project was 60% complete and had cost R98 million so far.
The R149 million project was requested by King Zwelithini and would consist of 2000 seats, an administration block, an irrigation system, a steel roof that would cover the entire arena, change rooms, parking bays, Eskom connections and site reticulation facilities, a borehole, and water and related infrastructure.
Meanwhile, this year’s Umkhosi Womhlanga will be held next week.
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