Address by MEC for Local Government and Housing Madam Maite Nkoana-Mashabane on the occasion of the unveiling of the single accommodation village in Northam, Thabazimbi municipality

Programme Director
Executive Mayor of Waterberg Municipality Councillor Pinkie Kekana
The Mayor of Thabazimbi Municipality Councillor LN Matlou
Kgoshi Nyalala Pilane wa Ba Kgatla ba Kgafela
The CEO Duncan Wanblad
William Taylor Anglo Platinum Mine Manager
Executive Director of HR Abey Thebyane
Representative from Housing Forum
Representative from Labour
Friends from the media
Distinguished guests
Ladies and Gentlemen

Programme Director

"All our peoples have without exception known the humiliation of living in a country which was our own but which the superior power of alien and hostile forces had annexed and transformed into their patrimony. We have all known the indignity of living under rulers who tried to deny us a personality of our own, who decried our history and derided our cultural traditions, who allowed us no names and no future except to the extent that they chose, and such a future as accorded with the perpetuation of their own interests.

All our peoples also share the experience of resistance to colonialism. If we turn our minds back to the last decades of the 19th century and the opening years of the 20th, we find that with few exceptions we were all engaged in wars of resistance," said Oliver Reginald Tambo when addressing the Heads of States of the Non Aligned Movement in Havana Cuba.

It's the leadership of this visionary and the liberator of our people who continued to spread the message of hope during the dark years of apartheid that one day, we the people of the South shall be free. He left us a legacy and heritage that we dare not betray.

Programme Director

The month of September 2007 has been declared heritage month and our Department of Local Government and Housing is part of the broad government agencies that commemorate and celebrate our heritage. As a government agency our participation in the heritage month is the decree and to the extent to which we are able to deliver basic services for our people which forms the basis of our heritage.

Key to this heritage of our people is delivery of water, sanitation, electricity and housing. Delivery of housing, water and electricity is a fundamental objective in pursuit of the ideals of the Freedom Charter which is a heritage that our forebears have bequeathed it to our people.

Programme Director

As South Africa celebrates Heritage Month, we have an opportunity to reflect on what our collective heritage actually is. This is pertinent as we look back on what we have achieved in the first ten years of South Africa's freedom and democracy. Heritage Month is about taking the best in us and our past - and projecting it into a future that is "Alive with Possibility." Our country's successful transformation from a pariah state to a stable and prosperous democracy has led to South Africa being respected and revered internationally for its most progressive constitution.

Our ability to turn a tragic situation into a lesson for the world - our transition to a democratic state was expected to be marred by violence and retribution, but instead it was an astounding lesson in reconciliation. This heritage was inherited from our forebears who fought tirelessly for this Freedom for this current generation and future generations to come.

Programme Director

The democratic breakthrough brought us a new social order that dictates to us that things must be done differently from the previous regime. It is against this backdrop that housing policies has to change for the better to the benefit of all the masses of our people including the migrant workers.

Programme Director

The unveiling of this Refurbished Hostel single Village accommodation in Swartklip signifies the change in our housing policy in partnership with the private sector (Anglo Platinum Mine). It is in our view that this housing compounds will immensely contribute towards social cohesion and integration of families.

The three thousand six hundred employees who benefited from this project will now start to live like human beings with their fellow workers without being packed in a hall were there is no privacy.

The progressive policies that we have developed in realisation of integrated human settlements must be promoted and strengthened. The private sector must ensure that it integrates these policies as it embarks on any housing developments for its employees.

We will continue to mobilise the private sector in pursuit of construction of decent accommodation workers in the mines, factories and farms. It is both our concomitant duty as government and the private sector to provide shelter to our people.

We appeal to other mining houses to follow the path and example that Anglo Platinum has undertaken. Together in unity in action we will fight this battle to shelter those who cannot afford to put shelter over their heads if we don't intervene as government and private sector.

As the department we would like to appreciate our partnership with Anglo Platinum for their efforts to ensure that provision of decent housing is not the responsibility of government alone but all of us.

We must strive to encourage that all of our partners and the private sector as whole, especially in the mining sector implement our social housing policies by construction of family units for mineworkers.

I hope that this partnership with Anglo Platinum will not end today but it will continue until we achieve a shack free society where all of us rich and poor have access to a roof over our head.

I thank you