26 Jun 2013

Kgatleng District Council has used P15 million to assist 694 Self Help Housing Agency (SHHA) beneficiaries since the inception of the programme. 

Addressing the Kgatleng full council meeting on June 24, the council chairperson, Mr Tona Mooketsi lamented the high number of SHHA defaulters in the district. He said by the end of May this year, the council was owed P597 894 in SHHA arrears by 162 plot holders. 

He said the defaulters who failed to service their loans were written letters to remind them to pay, but this option made little impact, hence his appeal to councilors to encourage people to pay their arrears through kgotla meetings.  

The council chairperson said failure to repay SHHA loans denied other deserving Batswana an opportunity to have shelter as it resulted in the council facing shortage of funds and being unable to provide for others.

With regard to Turnkey loans, Mr Mooketsi said the council had assisted 70 beneficiaries. He noted that 35 houses had been completed, 17 at various construction stages, two at mobilisation stage and one cancelled after the contract was terminated due to non-performance of the contractor.

He said cancellation of loan application was a problem considering that out of the last batch of applicants, seven had cancelled their loan applications for various reasons. End