MOBENI DWELLERS’ DREAM OF OWNING FLATS QUASHED

EZULWINI – The country’s citizens who have hopes of being title holders of Mobeni Flats units would have to hold their horses, at least for now.

At the launch of the Sectional Titles Act, which took place yesterday, most attendees were obviously eager to hear if the Swaziland National Housing Board (SNHB), Luphahla, would announce that the proposed project would finally take off but it was not the case.
Instead, SNHB Chief Executive Officer Mduduzi Dlamini, informed them that the ultimate decision and approval to sell rested with government, as a shareholder of the organisation.

As expected, his statement was received with murmurs and reactions of disappointment from the attendees.
Giving an explanation, Dlamini stated that the rental portfolio was a key part of SNHB’s portfolio mandate and that the Mobeni Flats had old units, which meant that they needed to build new facilities inside, including wardrobes.

“Mobeni Flats are a key revenue source for us, and provide convenient accommodation for low income earners. Our preferred option is first to increase the size of the rental portfolio to 3 000 flats by building new units and upgrading the existing ones, then sell the older units. Sectional sale would require extensive upgrades to existing units and infrastructure,” he said.

He said at some point, they would sell but that such would be subject to business consideration.
“The reason for the public expectation and political pressure for the SNHB to sell is that there is the belief that the units would be cheap and affordable to low income earners. The fact is that if you read the Act, these units are old, some of them more than 40 years old, so they will need extensive upgrades and this will increase the selling price and only be afforded by a few while leaving out the target market,” he said.

The good news from Dlamini’s presentation was the revelation that one of SNHB’s plan was establishing a housing finance unit to offer affordable housing loans to buyers.

He informed the attendees that there was an existing legislation that provided for the organisation to provide loans to its buyers but that the process could not come into effect due to financial challenges.

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