Siyabulela Mbalo, chairman of the Watergate, Mandalay, Montclair Development Forum
We, as the development forum and residents, acknowledge that the Beacon Valley Housing Project is an authority-controlled project and that accountability lies with an organ of the state.
Although communities can be represented and can participate procedurally in projects in a number of ways, this has not happened.
Ward 116 structures and residents submitted a memorandum to the developer through ward councillor, Michael Pietersen, seeking various opportunities for engagement in project implementation.
We must enter into a development compact – that is an agreement which lays down the procedure to be followed from start to finish and allocates areas of responsibility and requires participants to account for their actions.
The project’s beneficiaries want the developer to have their obligations clearly stated in such an agreement.