Ramaphosa apologises for misleading promise of ‘1-million in Alexandra’

President Cyril Ramaphosa has buckled under pressure from EFF leader Julius Malema and has “apologised” to the people of Alexandra for creating “an impression” that his government would build them 1-million houses, back in 2019.

Ramaphosa sponsored the apology in the National Assembly on Thursday, when he was pushed on the matter by Malema during an oral question-and-answers session, the president’s first under the auspices of the government of national unity (GNU) or the seventh parliament.

Malema wanted Ramaphosa to tell parliament what progress had been made since his promise in April 2019 to the people of Alexandra’s Stjwetla area, on the banks of the Jukskei River, “who get washed away” when it rained.

In his reply, which was met with loud gasps from EFF MPs, Ramaphosa said he never promised to build the 1-million houses for the people of Alexandra alone, but his was a national, five-year target.

He told MPs that in terms of that target, only 40,000 houses were earmarked for the people of Stjwetla.

Ramaphosa insisted that the topographical shape of Alexandra meant it was not possible to build 1-million houses there.

“It’s quite clear from the recording of what I said that these houses were not just for Alexandra,” said Ramaphosa.

“There’s simply not enough space ... to even approach the scale of 1-million houses.

“Housing in Alexandra has long been a challenge; many people continue to move there due to its proximity to economic opportunities. This strains existing resources and increases housing demand. There is lack of available land for development in and around Alexandra itself.”

This did not sit well with Malema, who challenged Ramaphosa to own up and apologise to the people of Alexandra for seemingly misleading them.

“President, it’s leadership to admit you’ve made a mistake. You can’t come here and say you’ve never promised the people of Alexandra a million houses,” said Malema.

The EFF leader told Ramaphosa he had raised the hope and expectation of the people of Alexandra, most of whom were living in squalid conditions amid their “daily housing struggles”. He  said Ramaphosa also had to apologise in honour of an EFF leader based in Alexandra, Moshe Mphahlele, who was recently shot dead during a protest about flats owned by the Johannesburg Housing Company.

“In their honour, I think it’s the correct thing to say, ‘I am sorry, I made a miscalculation.’ To say you’ve not said it, you are now becoming a professional politician who can just say this today and turn against it tomorrow and then it’s business as usual.”

In response, Ramaphosa started by offering his condolences to the EFF and Mphahlele’s family.

“To the extent that it created this impression that I said a million houses for Alexandra, which objectively would not be possible anyway because we just don’t have the land there to build a million houses.

“And to the extent that it created that impression, yes, I apologise for having made people believe that I meant for Alexandra.”

Ramaphosa also conceded that the 1-million national target was never met, with only 240,000 houses built.

He said the 40,000 houses would be built in Frankenwald and Linksfield, to benefit the people of Alexandra and Stjwetla.

Ramaphosa also said that “one urgent task is to relocate about 8,000 households who live within the flood lines of the Jukskei”.

TimesLIVE