I’ll take the MEC for coffee to teach him how land transfer process works, says De Lille

Cape Town – Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Patricia de Lille says there is a proper process and procedures to be completed before land parcels that were meant for the province can be transferred.

De Lille was responding to a statement from Human Settlements MEC Tertuis Simmers seeking clarity about land parcels that were meant to have been released to the Western Cape.

Simmers had said that neither the province nor the Western Cape Housing Development Agency (HDA) had received the five parcels of land that De Lille announced in a media statement last week.

“To date, we have still not received any formal communication from the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure regarding these five parcels of land. It’s critical that Minister De Lille clarify to the people of the Western Cape which parcels have been released, where they’re located and what the potential human settlement yield is.

“I’d like to urge Minister De Lille to release well-located land, just as she advocated while mayor of Cape Town. I also once again point out that it is important that when land is released and or transferred that the power of attorney (PoA) must be provided.

“Should the PoA not be available, a third party is unable to commence with statutory processes such as Water Use Licence Assessments, Environmental Impact Assessments and town planning, or any other statutory processes on the owner’s land, while the transfer has not been concluded.”

In her response to Simmers, De Lille outlined the steps that must be followed before the land can be released in terms of the Government Immovable Asset Management Act.

“All of these processes are out of the minister’s control, but it is due process that must be followed. I will take the MEC for coffee to teach him how these processes work. I have been the minister for two years and the DA cannot expect me to deal with their failures of 10 years in two years.

“They must deal with their failures to provide decent housing for the people of the Western Cape by using land on the immovable asset register of the provincial government and the immovable asset registers of all the municipalities of the Western Cape before blaming the national government for not releasing land,” De Lille said.

“He must just understand that I have done my job to sign off the transfer of land and he must wait to hear from the HDA once they have taken transfer of the land.”

De Lille listed the parcels of land that she had signed off for in the Western Cape for human settlements purposes as: 6.9ha in Stellenbosch; 12ha in Driftsands: 11ha that was in two parcels in Ruiterbos Forest Village, Mossel Bay; and 3.5ha that was in two parcels of land in Wellington.

[email protected]

Cape Argus