It was all fun and games in a flagship Port Alfred suburb aimed at normalising township life when a hi-tech multipurpose community centre (MPCC) was opened just in time for the school holidays.
Dozens of happy children played with all sorts of sports equipment while Human Settlements MEC Helen Sauls-August and local community leaders went about the serious business of officially opening the R24-million Titi Jonas centre on Friday.
Not to be outdone though, Sauls-August later found time to shoot hoops with local netball players, score goals on the indoor mini soccer facility and even smash Cacadu mayoral committee member Vukile Bulura on the ping-pong table.
“It is not ping-pong,” she explained between shots: “It is table tennis.”
According to Sauls-August, the eco-friendly, architecturally designed centre – which boasts a state-of-the art gymnasium, indoor sports area, spectator seating, netball field, offices and change rooms – also provides a multipurpose hall that could be used by the whole community.
Built in the new Thornhill housing development, the 509 homes already completed in the suburb form part of government’s plan to build completely integrated residential settlements with fully occupied houses, tarred roads, street lights, running water and social amenities.
The mixed development project comprises semi-detached homes, community residential units and subsidy homes with plans afoot to build a library, offices and even supermarkets in the area.
Constructed in 2009, Thornhill is one of the Ministerial Breaking New Grounds Projects developed to eradicate informal settlements in the province.
Sauls-August said the development formed part of an extended mandate to promote a sense of community where people “live, work, play and pray”.
“While the department of human settlements receives a budget primarily for housing delivery, it has become more imperative that the houses are part of a community and that community requires additional amenities from both the private and public sector.
“The MPCC serves as a cornerstone facility to generate social togetherness and community life that becomes a catalyst for further development through other state institutions, the private sector and also the community itself.”
Since the project started, five MPCCs have already been completed and handed over in the province with more in the pipeline in coming years.
Ndlambe mayor Sipho Tandani said the facility would be available for use by communities throughout the district and not just Thornhill residents.
“The next phase is to build offices so we can locate municipal departments like housing closer to the people.
“It will have a business zone, library and shopping centre, making this a suburb as opposed to a township.”
The MPCC is named in honour of the late Titi Jonas – who was a local political activist when Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti was active in nearby townships during the apartheid era.
Her daughter Nompumelelo said it was great that her mother was finally being recognised for her contribution to the struggle. — davidm@dispatch.co.za
Fun and games at new R24m centre
Dozens of happy children played with all sorts of sports equipment while Human Settlements MEC Helen Sauls-August and local community leaders went about the serious business of officially opening the R24-million Titi Jonas centre on Friday.
Not to be outdone though, Sauls-August later found time to shoot hoops with local netball players, score goals on the indoor mini soccer facility and even smash Cacadu mayoral committee member Vukile Bulura on the ping-pong table.
“It is not ping-pong,” she explained between shots: “It is table tennis.”
According to Sauls-August, the eco-friendly, architecturally designed centre – which boasts a state-of-the art gymnasium, indoor sports area, spectator seating, netball field, offices and change rooms – also provides a multipurpose hall that could be used by the whole community.
Built in the new Thornhill housing development, the 509 homes already completed in the suburb form part of government’s plan to build completely integrated residential settlements with fully occupied houses, tarred roads, street lights, running water and social amenities.
The mixed development project comprises semi-detached homes, community residential units and subsidy homes with plans afoot to build a library, offices and even supermarkets in the area.
Constructed in 2009, Thornhill is one of the Ministerial Breaking New Grounds Projects developed to eradicate informal settlements in the province.
Sauls-August said the development formed part of an extended mandate to promote a sense of community where people “live, work, play and pray”.
“While the department of human settlements receives a budget primarily for housing delivery, it has become more imperative that the houses are part of a community and that community requires additional amenities from both the private and public sector.
“The MPCC serves as a cornerstone facility to generate social togetherness and community life that becomes a catalyst for further development through other state institutions, the private sector and also the community itself.”
Since the project started, five MPCCs have already been completed and handed over in the province with more in the pipeline in coming years.
Ndlambe mayor Sipho Tandani said the facility would be available for use by communities throughout the district and not just Thornhill residents.
“The next phase is to build offices so we can locate municipal departments like housing closer to the people.
“It will have a business zone, library and shopping centre, making this a suburb as opposed to a township.”
The MPCC is named in honour of the late Titi Jonas – who was a local political activist when Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti was active in nearby townships during the apartheid era.
Her daughter Nompumelelo said it was great that her mother was finally being recognised for her contribution to the struggle. — davidm@dispatch.co.za
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