The provision of housing and basic services has earned the eThekwini Municipality the accolade of being named the Best Service Delivery Metro in the country. This follows the National Govan Mbeki Human Settlements Awards held at Gallagher Estate recently.

EThekwini Mayor Cllr James Nxumalo who represented the Municipality at the awards ceremony, presented a R600 000 cheque, a laptop, certificate, a gold trophy that the Municipality won to the Executive Committee at a special celebratory meeting held at the City Hall last week. He said, “On behalf of EXCO I want to say we feel very excited that our Municipality has been honoured in this category of human settlements by the country.

We are encouraged to do even better.” The Chairperson for Human Settlements and Infrastructure Portfolio Committee, Cllr Nigel Gumede said they were happy that the Municipality had been recognised for its achievements despites the challenges experienced in the Housing Unit. “Our ultimate goal is to build houses in all folds and we are not just building houses but human settlements.” He said it was the Municipality’s intention to defend the trophy ‘until cows come home’. “Many people contributed to what we have achieved today and we would like to applaud them for the great work they have done.

We have been vindicated by the nation that as the Municipality we can deliver.” The Municipality has been building 16 000 housing units per year in previous years. “There is no other city that can match what we do. We are the only ones that can do this.” During the ceremony National Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale said that these awards were the highest expression of appreciating excellence which is underpinned by the awards associated with one of the most outstanding South Africans - Dr. Govan Mbeki.

The purpose of the Govan Mbeki awards is to motivate all stakeholders in the housing industry to harness human and other resources in accelerating housing delivery to improve the lives of millions of our poor by building Sustainable Human Settlements, providing a choice of quality housing opportunities with secure tenure and access to water, sanitation, social, economic and recreational facilities. Meanwhile, Phase 1 of Cornubia development has begun, consisting of 486 units. All planning and statutory processes which include the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Record Of Decision (ROD) are in place. Construction is 45% complete.

The EIA process for phase 2 of the Cornubia development has also commenced. This process is expected to be finalised by December 2013. Phase 2 of the project covers a larger area and includes a range of housing typologies to cater for a range of income groups, industrial, commercial sites and social clusters.

khumalotk@durban.gov.za or gumedemthunzi@durban.gov.za