Statement from GOOD Councillor Richard Hector, Ward 27, Pacaltsdorp, George Municipality
DA George Council: Votes to put the lives of Pacaltsdorp Urban Housing Occupants at risk
25 March 2021
During today’s George Council Meeting the DA together with the ACDP and FF+ voted to transfer Pacaltsdorp Urban Housing to its current occupants in their current condition.
The council resolution makes a vague comment that the Municipality will try and find the funds to repair these houses. These are heritage homes, nearly 100 years old, currently owned by the Municipality but occupied by elderly residents for many years.
The responsible thing to do is to repair these homes so that they are safe and liveable before transferring them.
The DA-led George Council has gone ahead with this decision knowing that once government has transferred them to the occupants they become private property and the Municipality cant spend on private property.
Once those houses are transferred the Municipality will never repair them.
I proposed a sensible amendment to the Council recommendation – that a structural engineer is appointed to assess the houses and then the Municipality repairs them to a reasonable standard that ensures they are safe and liveable.
The proposal by GOOD was that these urban houses, which are old and dilapidated, be repaired by the Municipality first to a safe and liveable condition.
By transferring these houses, before a Structural Engineer confirms that these homes are indeed safe and liveable, the DA has essentially abdicated paying costs to fix any structural damage placing the lives of its occupants in risk.
When I tried to raise this point in Council I was silenced by Speaker Gerrit Pretorius and thrown out of Council.
Again, the DA George Municipality has given its poorest residents the middle finger. The DA clearly doesn’t care about people and took the route of placing an interest to evade their own financial future responsibility to these homes including putting the lives of its occupants and now its owners at risk.
Ends…