On Saturday February 28 the Provincial Legislature held its official oversight meeting on the Department of Infrastructure Development in Alberton Civic Centre. The community of Randhart and the Randhart Residence Committee was invited to attend this sitting. This is quite an unusual process, and by that I mean this has never happened before. The MEC honourable Mayathula-Khoza was asked to appear before the community by the chair of the oversight member Lasindwa to account for the process that is currently under way.
The committee chair acknowledged that the historically process had been flawed, and that the problems faced by both sides of the negotiation table had made for a hostile environment. So instead of spending time on the historical problems, the committee would rather explore the solutions needed to move forward and legalise the occupants of these houses.
The first step would be to have the occupants enter an application for lease. This is to ascertain who the lessee would be, in other words, who is staying in the house currently and would be liable for the future rental agreement.
This process has been given a time frame of one month to complete. After this a further inspection of the houses would be undertaken to establish any damages that may effect the rental price, the rental price itself would be worked out on the municipal valuation, which I have already ensured is correct to market value. Once this is complete, a contract will be issued to the tenant for signing, and it will then mean that they will be legal occupants.
This is a momentous occasion, because this is the first area in the whole of Gauteng that this has happened. Never before has the whole committee, all the department heads and the MEC actually come out to resolve an issue of this nature.
I am eternally grateful for the assistance of MPL Alan Fuchs, who assisted me greatly in coming to this point. I will be monitoring the situation as it unfolds, but should we not hit any snags by the end of April, all the people in those houses will be protected and legalised under a new rental agreement.
Happy is the day when things work out the right way.
