First beneficiaries move into City’s Morningstar project

22 December 2020

The City of Cape Town’s Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements, Councillor Malusi Booi, the Project Steering Committee and dignitaries celebrated as they handed over the keys to the first beneficiaries of the Morningstar housing project in Durbanville over the past week. The project will benefit 166 qualifying beneficiaries and they are now able to move into their homes, two years after the project was completed. It was held up due to a protracted legal challenge.

The City celebrated with qualifying beneficiaries and dignitaries when 31 units were handed over at its R34,2 million Morningstar housing project in Durbanville over the past week. During the course of this week, an additional 16 units will be handed over to beneficiaries.

This project has a total of 166 Breaking New Ground (BNG) State-subsidised houses, which have been ready for hand over to beneficiaries since September 2018. In 2021, the City will hand over the remaining units to beneficiaries. This is expected to be concluded by the end of March 2021, if all goes according to plan.

Their move in was delayed due to the Morningstar Development and Upliftment Initiative (MDUI) attempting to prevent the handover and challenging the allocation process in Court. This matter followed due court processes and negotiations were successful as both parties came to an amicable settlement in October 2020. The settlement was made an order of the court on 13 November 2020. The City will continue to secure the project to ensure that the remaining units are not unlawfully occupied.

‘These handovers were particularly special to the City, and we celebrate with the first Morningstar beneficiaries as they move into their homes. We will continue to hand over new housing opportunities to beneficiaries over the coming months. Beneficiaries of this housing project are among some of the most vulnerable in Cape Town and now they are able to celebrate Christmas and the festive season in their new homes after a long wait.

‘We thank the project teams for the hard work and dedication in helping us provide homes to these beneficiaries who have been waiting patiently. The City remains committed to handing over new housing opportunities to beneficiaries in areas across the metro to create opportunities for them and to enable redress,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements, Councillor Malusi Booi.

The selection of beneficiaries for housing projects is done in accordance with the City’s Allocation Policy and the City’s Housing Needs Register to ensure that housing opportunities are allocated to qualifying beneficiaries in a fair and equitable manner that prevents queue-jumping. The beneficiary target areas are determined in consultation with the community’s representatives, and submitted to a Housing Allocation Committee for approval.

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Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office