First families move into 702 houses at Cosmo City
Thursday, 28 September 2006

The first families taking ownership of their new homes, as part of the 702 FNB Housing Initiative at Cosmo City, today received the keys to these long-awaited houses.

Five families, each of who have never before owned a house, were presented with keys to their brand new homes by Gauteng MEC for Housing, Nomvula Mokonyane.

For 43-year-old Margaret Tsoai, this was a dream come true. The domestic worker turned events planner has been living with her employers since 1989, and this is her first-ever house, which she plans to share with her niece.

At age 40, Blessing Jumbu has never owned his own home. He currently rents a flat above his place of work, and is overjoyed with his new house. Particularly because he’ll be getting married early next year, and plans to bring his new bride home to a real house, where they hope to raise a family.

Another person who plans to live out her dream with her family, is 36-year-old Elizabeth Tsotetsi. “I’ve always wanted to own my own place, and be a home owner, like other people,” said the excited mother of two. “I’ve been struggling for all these years, living with my employers, but now finally my two boys and I have a place to call home.”

28-year-old Anele Blayi has been renting rooms in Tembisa, since moving to Gauteng from the Eastern Cape in 2003. “This will be my first home, so I’m very excited,” said Blayi. “I just can’t wait to move in and be able to decorate it the way I want to.”

Mapule and Mishak Mokgophi have also been forced to rent homes their entire married life. They now look forward to starting afresh with their four children in their very own home at Cosmo City.

The families took ownership of the houses as part of a pioneering new housing initiative between Talk Radio 702 and First National Bank (FNB), in association with construction firm M5 Developments and the Gauteng Department of Housing. The initiative strives to provide 702 houses to low-income earners within the Cosmo City housing development.

“We’re absolutely delighted to be able to hand over these five houses to the first recipients in the 702 FNB Housing Initiative,” said Talk Radio 702 station manager, Pheladi Gwangwa. “We promised that we could make a difference in people’s lives by providing them with houses, and this is proof of that commitment. I’m very pleased with the project’s progress to date and look forward to being able to welcome other recipients in the future to their new homes.”

“We are very excited to help make this project a reality, and truly encouraged by the construction progress and quality of houses being delivered,” said Marius Marais, CEO of FNB Housing Finance. “ As a socially responsible organisation, it is very important for FNB to plough back to the community through such investments that will help those with the greatest need for housing regain stability in their lives.”

Cosmo City is a mixed-use, integrated housing development near Kya Sands in northern Gauteng. The Department of Housing currently provides subsidies for the construction and servicing of 9 000 units, 5 000 of which are fully-subsidised, 3 000 of which are finance-linked units and 1 000 of which are institutional rental apartments.

The 702 FNB Housing Initiative forms part of the finance-linked component of Cosmo City, where people earning between R3 500 and R7 000 per month can apply for an FNB mortgage bond and government housing subsidy to finance their new home.

According to Faizal Motlekar, executive chairman of M5 Developments, the roll-out of the 702 houses is on track. “Following today’s handover, we will be handing over a further 100 houses at the end of October,” he explained. “These houses are currently at various stages of construction.”

Apart from offering low-income earners a home, this groundbreaking project is providing much-needed employment as well as assisting with vital skills development. Almost 2000 people are employed on the Cosmo City development - a large number of those are working on the 702 FNB Housing Initiative.

While many of the workers are skilled construction workers, a number of unskilled people from the local communities of Riverbend and Zeverfontein have also been offered employment. To ensure skills development, these workers have been put through various programmes to up skill them in the different fields of construction. A number of women from these communities have also been employed on site.

As per the agreement with the Gauteng Department of Housing, between 50% and 70% of the workers employed on the site are from local communities.

The 702 FNB Housing Initiative was officially launched by the Minister of Housing, Ms Lindiwe Sisulu, on 18 May 2006. It’s a public-private partnership that aims to help address the current housing backlog in the province by providing low-income earners with access to affordable housing.

According to Marais, FNB simply responded to market needs. “We realised there was a gap in the low-income housing market and developed appropriate solutions to address the shortage of housing stock and the lack of access to credit,” said Marais. “To improve credit access, we established a focused business unit called FNB Housing Finance, which has developed a tailored credit approach for this market.”

This dedicated unit has set aside R200-million in end-user finance to enable the people of Cosmo City to own their own houses.

The project reflects Talk Radio 702’s ongoing commitment to its community, and follows two previous successful housing initiatives with Habitat for Humanity, where staff and sponsors helped build a total of 15 houses over two years in previously disadvantaged areas.

“Houses are a basic human right,” added Gwangwa. “As a station rooted in its community, it’s only fitting that we contribute towards something as significant and as important as providing people with houses.”

The 702 FNB Housing Initiative is in line with the Department of Housing’s mission to address the provincial housing backlog through innovative and affordable solutions by way of public-private partnerships, in accordance with the objectives of the national reconstruction and development programme.

Back to archives