AENS Media Response
30 January 2013
The Kancane Kancane Changing the Lives of the People for the Better is the Honourable Premier David Mabuza’s Legacy Project which started in June last year when Mabuza read and was touched by the plight of a Coronation Park poor elderly woman, whose dilapidated mud-house had a sinkhole and could swallow not her alone, but also her granddaughter too.
The informal settlement she lived in for years was on top of an un-rehabilitated mine in Witbank.
Touched by her story, Premier Mabuza visited the woman with few business people he wanted to directly persuade to assist build a house for a 97-year old Ms Sarah Ngele as her wish was that of dying having owned her own house.
After building two houses and successfully moving her with another woman from Coronation Park to KwaGuqa, Premier Mabuza continued to lobby more sponsors especially the companies which are doing business in the province and in those areas where he had identified the beneficiaries for the houses.
The construction of the houses has been made possible with financial donations from amongst others PUTCO which does its business in the Nkangala Region, MEGA-BUS which does its business in Gert Sibande Region, BUSCO which operates in Ehlanzeni and MTN. There are also many emerging companies which have contributed houses in the Premier’s Legacy Project.
To date, the Premier’s Legacy Project has achieved 147 houses which have been built in Nkomazi, Mbombela, Bushbuckridge, Pixley Ka Isaaka Seme, Dr J S Moroka, Thembisile Hani and Govan Mbeki municipalities. Many houses have been built in Thembisile Hani and in the Dr J S Moroka municipalities.
With regards to the quantity of houses committed by the sponsors, the numbers vary as per the sponsor’s capacity; some would commit to sponsor 20 houses, while others would go as far as committing to build 32 houses.
For purposes of integrity, we wish to honour the contractual obligation between the sponsor and the contractor and not disclose as to how much each contractor is expected to be paid. The bill of quantities are however available for assessment by the sponsors.
We also wish to stress that the amounts to be paid to the contractors would depend on the sizes of the houses as the Premier would commission a bigger house for a household with many family members or a smaller house for a family of few.
It is with regret that due to internal processes of the sponsors, contractors in Govan Mbeki municipality have not yet received their payments for the work done. The delay in paying the contractors by the sponsors has been caused by non-adherence to the set deadline. Sponsors in this project prefer to process packaged documents as compared to dealing with one at a time.
Since the Honourable Premier understands very well that non-payment of the contractors for the work done hits hard on their pockets, he has already met with the sponsors to appeal to them to speedily process payments.
All contractors will soon be getting their monies, but they will have to wait for internal processes of the sponsors in satisfying themselves by verifying before they make payments. Payments are done directly by the sponsors to the contractors. The Office of the Premier facilitates paperwork and ensures authenticity.
The Honourable Premier has no vendetta against the contractors; as a matter of fact he uses them as an example that if each and every one contributed little in ensuring a better life for the needy, South Africa and Mpumalanga province would be a better place.
The Honourable Premier appreciates the contribution by the contractors and has requested them to be patient and allow the sponsors to finalise their internal processes as they are guaranteed that they will get their payments. All contractors have been served with letters of acknowledgement for the job well-done and confirmation that indeed they will get their monies.
Contractors have not stopped working on this project. It is only one contractor who stopped building a house in order to allow the municipality to resolve a matter between the farm owner who prefers another beneficiary to get the house in his land instead of the identified one. Apparently the identified beneficiary is running a shebeen in the property of the farm owner.
The Honourable Premier wishes to thank everyone who has willingly contributed in his call to assist those in desperate situation. His legacy project will continue and the Premier further invites those who wish to put a hand in this genuine initiative to come forward.
Issued by Zibonele Mncwango
Spokesperson: Mpumalanga Premier
Tel: (013) 766 – 2453
Mobile: 079 491 0163
E-mail: zmncwango@mpg.gov.za
