Govt to identify abandoned houses

Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Tuesday February 17, 2015 16:47

 

Addressing Parliament last week, Lands and Housing minister, Prince Maele noted that poor record keeping is the main reason why some properties stay years unoccupied.

“My ministry has tasked all government departments to give records on their houses and the abandoned ones. The District Commissioners are helping us to get proper statistics on abandoned houses, offices and properties that government owns,” Maele said.

He said it would take a while for the audit to be finalised and therefore it would be hard to share the exact deadline.

Maele was responding to a question from MP for Mahalapye West, Joseph Molefe, who wondered if the minister was aware that public servants’ houses in Mahalapye are very old, with some abandoned for a long time. 

“I am aware that some civil servants houses in Mahalapye are old and some have been abandoned for sometime. My ministry is also aware that there is a nationwide shortage of accommodation for civil servants, including Mahalapye,” Maele said.

He said the re-development of the plots with dilapidated houses are taken care of under the District Housing Development Programme and will be considered during NDP11.

“Currently, because of budget constraints, it has not been possible to avail funding in the financial year 2015/16 under the District Housing Development Programme,” he said.

He said government leases houses from the private market to augment the stock for public officers including those in Mahalapye.