There were tears of happiness as the first 40 residents of the new Tafelsig Housing Project in Mitchells Plain received their keys at a ceremony attended by Executive Mayor Helen Zille on Friday, 5 December 2008.

Councillor Dan Plato, Mayoral Committee Member for Housing, said the recipients were "very, very pleased with their homes".

"The Mayor and I visited some of the houses. There were tears, people cried," he said.

Construction on the development, which is an Urban Renewal Programme anchor project, began in March 2008. There will be 597 houses when it is complete in June 2009.

The development is also part of the Mitchells Plain Infill Project, which will provide 1 838 housing opportunities to people on the Mitchells Plain housing list and residents in nearby informal settlements.

The project has been steered by a public participation process, and workshops have been held to inform prospective beneficiaries about the different house types available and their roles and responsibilities as homeowners. The process was led by a steering committee of councillors and community representatives.

The Electricity Department was also present at the ceremony, and the beneficiaries received electricity cards loaded with their first 50Kw of free electricity.

Plato said a group of about 100 residents gathered to protest the fact that they had only received one-room dwellings when they were given their houses during the first phase of the Freedom Park development.

He said this was due to the housing subsidy at the time, which limited the available space. This has since been increased to R44,000 by the national Department of Housing, and the new homes therefore now have two rooms.