By Nangamso Mabindla
26 January 2005

BUFFALO CITY mayor, Sindisile Maclean, has promised to tackle the slow delivery of houses handed over in impoverished areas.

He told a group of residents at the Nompumelelo informal settlement on Tuesday, 25 January, during a formal handing over of keys to new homeowners, that the City would "deal with the problem to the best of our ability".

The ceremony marked the conclusion of the first phase of a R40-million project to provide housing in some of the poorest areas of Buffalo City.

Already 200 houses have been completed and, by the end of the Nompumelelo project, 1 200 houses will have been built.

However, some residents approached the mayor to complain about the slow rate of delivery in some sections of the settlement.

They complained that despite being among the first to apply, they had not yet been given houses.

In a letter sent to him in November, the group also urged the mayor to intervene.

Maclean told the group his office would liaise with the residents' leader and set up a meeting. "I have heard your complaints. This is a serious issue which my office needs to address," said Maclean.

According to Maclean, his office receives letters from other areas as well, but he promised to deal with Nompumelelo urgently.

"There will always be hiccups when service delivery is involved. We will try and ensure that we deal with this problem to the best of our ability," added Maclean.

He asked the community to unify, so that the housing project became a success. "We will have a 1 200 houses for families. All we need is for you to be patient with us and work with us for the success of the project," he said.