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The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) and Human Settlements has made some progress in the area of service delivery, with projects to upgrade informal settlements and building homes for deserving beneficiaries.
The MEC for CoGTA and Human Settlements in the Free State province, Mr Saki Mokoena will from Monday, 1 September 2025, criss-cross the province to launch a variety of service delivery projects. In collaboration with municipalities, MEC Mokoena will also hand over environmental tools to the Masilonyana Local Municipality as part of supporting their efforts to protect and improve the environment.
During his 2025/26 budget vote speech, MEC Mokoena announced significant milestones reached by the department in servicing more than five thousand sites, exceeding the annual target set at 1,900 sites.
As part of the upgrading of informal settlements, MEC Mokoena will visit the Majwemasweu Extension 5 located in Slovo Park, where approximately 2000 sites have been fully upgraded to improve the living conditions of the residents.
According to Zimasa Mbewu, the Spokesperson of the department, the department identified this informal settlement as a priority area for upgrading in the during the 2019/2020 financial year. Slovo Park was classified as a medium density settlement, with an estimated household count exceeding 1,000 and a population of over 3,000.
The upgrading of this area includes the installation of services such as a sewer network, which entails the installation of 20.57 km of sewer pipes, 1,943 water meters, storm-water drainage, and a 24 km road network.
The total cost of the project is estimated at more than R 180-million rand. The project has been completed three-months ahead of schedule.
“This does not only reflect the technical success of the project but also its significant socio-economic impact on the community, particularly interms of job creation and skills development”, said MEC Mokoena.
Mokoena will on Monday kick-off his launch in Masilonyana Local Municipality and Extension 5 Majwemasweu. Then on Tuesday, 2 September 2025, hand over Breaking New Ground (BNG) Houses in Kwakwatsi Koppies Extension 01.
The houses will be handed over to two elderly women who lost their homes following the heavy rainfall, which caused floods in March and April this year. Several other residential sites were affected. The beneficiaries are Mme Semonki Elizabeth Motaung, 86 years old. Her shack was in a waterlogged site and had to be moved to a new site and Mme Christinah Erens, 74 years old, who is living with disabilities.
