Pretoria - The cash-strapped City of Tshwane has, to date, paid R263 million for alternative accommodation for 483 families who had to leave the dilapidated Schubart Park buildings after a 2012 high court order.
The City had been struggling for almost 11 years to fix the building, with the court ruling also compelling it to provide alternative accommodation to tenants.
The order was largely informed by concerns the property was unsafe for habitation and the affected families were accommodated in five buildings.
Three hundred and 327 were moved to four privately owned properties and 156 households moved to Clarina Estate managed by Housing Company Tshwane.
The latest update about the amount the municipality continues to spend on the accommodation of Schubart Park residents was revealed by City’s human settlement department’s group head Nonto Memela in a council report.
The report, tabled in council, revealed most of the tenants were not paying levies of R516.66 per month per unit as they were expected to.
Over the years, there had been concerns an estimated R24m paid monthly by the municipality towards the tenants’ accommodation was not sustainable.
In view of the fact the tenants’ rentals were costly, the municipality proposed that former Schubart Park residents currently staying at Carina Estate be subjected to qualification criteria of government-subsidised housing schemes and for a new leasing agreement to be signed with those who qualify.
“The current arrangement with the ex-Schubart Park tenants is costly to the City and thus unsustainable. The department’s effort to seek alternative accommodation for the tenants, where they will enter into lease agreements and pay rent, is at an advanced stage,” according to a council report.
The proposed long-term plan, the report said, was needed due to delays and legal matters related to the refurbishment of Schubart Park buildings.
“On June 8, 2022, the mayoral committee approved the request for the reversal of the decision to pay for the short-term alternative accommodation and approved the plan to address the long-term alternative accommodation for ex-Schubart Park tenants,” the report said.
The report further noted it was “in the interest of the City to go back to court to advise it on the long term plan and seek assistance to enforce the plan for tenants to pay for their own accommodation”.
The City cited non-payment of levies and strained working relations between the City and the Schubart Park residents committee among the challenges it continued to face.
“The last three meetings (between the City and residents committee) were disrupted and the then MMC for Human Settlements, officials and the legal team threatened with violence,” the report said.
According to the report, the rental and utilities amounts paid by the City on behalf of the tenants are between R15 769 919 and R24 658 546 per annum.
Recently, the Pretoria News reported the metro had reached a settlement with a Schubart Park complex developer after years of legal wrangling over the legality of the deal concluded during the ANC-led administration.
After it assumed power in 2016, he DA challenged the deal because it believed it was facilitated “outside the scope of council and outside the scope of the law”.
MMC for Corporate and Shared Services, Kingsley Wakelin, said the settlement with the developer would see 75% of the property returned to the City as it was wrongfully included in the original transaction.
“The City will now work on plans to see this property restored to its former glory,” he said.
Pretoria News