Pretoria - In honour of those who took part in the first democratic elections on 27 April 1994, the North West will accelerate the speed of quality housing delivery in the province.
MEC for Human Settlements Desbo Mohono urged municipalities to give preference to the most vulnerable people in the society, especially the aged, because they, too, need to taste the fruits that they planted in 1994.
"Freedom Day is the right moment for all South Africans to remind themselves about the urgent task of expanding access to a better life for all and to reflect on government's record to change the lives of ordinary people for the better," said Mohono.
The MEC said her department is responsible for ensuring that every citizen of the province has a right to decent and quality housing, adding that she will do whatever it takes to ensure the progressive realisation of this right in the province.
She called on her departmental officials and all stakeholders involved in the housing delivery industry from across the province to harness the same spirit and energies that prevailed during the first democratic elections to help advance the goal of decent and quality housing for all.
Consistent with her commitment, Mohono announced that her department would unblock a housing project in Piet Plessis which was blocked in the 2006/07 financial year as a result of non-performance by the then appointed developer.
She said the department would, in addition to the planned 200 housing units, further increase the number of beneficiaries by building hundred more houses in the area.
"This we must do if we want to give practical meaning to the pledge that we made during the liberation struggle that we will never consider our mission accomplished and our liberation attained, unless all our people are freed from the bondage of homelessness and poverty," said Mohono.
The North West will celebrate this year's Freedom Day in Piet Plessis, near Vryburg in the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality.
