An action plan around the development of Schulphoek has been forwarded by Overstrand Municipality on 31 January to Tertuis Simmers, Provincial Minister of Human Settlements.
On 16 June 2021 he shared his plans for the budget of the Department of Human Settlements for the 2021-’22 financial year.
These plans included the budget of over R2,35 billion, out of which R5 million has been set aside for the Schulphoek development. Simmers made it clear he was committed to seeing the Schulphoek development through. “This is part of the reason R5 million has been availed from our Informal Settlement Upgrade Partnership Grant (ISUPG) for Schulphoek,” he said.
Land availability agreement
Dr Annelie Rabie, Mayor of the Overstrand, said in terms of the plan of action the Department of Human Settlements was requested to sign the land availability agreement by 28 February. “A range of activities on both sides need to start but can only start once the land availability agreement has been signed,” she stated. She says the progress of Schulphoek and where we are at this point, will serve at a council meeting on 21 February. “Everyone needs to be aware of what we do, where the blockages are and what we need to do about them.”
She says Law Enforcement have also been deployed at the Sandbaai side of Schulphoek. “We have increased our surveillance and Law Enforcement capacity,” Rabie said. “We now have two shifts working on the Sandbaai side of Schulphoek. We have blocked that road off and only Law Enforcement, Police and the Fire Department can make use of this road.”
Not everyone included in Schulphoek meeting
Theron Mqhu, a community activist, says the community was not included in a previous meeting involving officials of Overstrand Municipality, Premier Alan Winde and Simmers on 26 January.
This meeting focused on lack of visible progress with the Schulphoek development. To this end, a number of technical matters relating to the survey of potential beneficiaries, illegal land occupation, shack farming and intergovernmental responsibility were discussed.
“Only politically affiliated people from the DA attended this meeting,” Mqhu said. “Other parties, such as the ANC, EFF and Land Party, were not included in this meeting. It was only one-directional. This is where one can see how politics is played by the municipality. We thought things would change with the new Mayor, but things stay the same. They are just reinvented. It’s just talk, there is no action.”
He also mentions that he tried to get an appointment (since last year) with the new Municipal Manager.
“He hasn’t replied to our messages. To this date he hasn’t gotten back to us yet.”
Simmers affirms commitment to Schulphoek
After the meeting of 26 January Simmers reaffirmed his commitment to this provincial priority project. He also undertook to ensure finalisation of the land availability agreement as soon as all outstanding matters pertaining to it were resolved.