Accolade for Bay housing expert

SOUTH Africa's low-cost accommodation will come under the spotlight this month when Nelson Mandela Bay's social housing expert represents the country on a study visit to Canada.

Imizi Social Housing chief executive Anthony Ngcezula will be heading to Vancouver on Tuesday, where various countries will be discussing the different aspects of social housing.

Ngcezula, whose company is responsible for the building of Walmer Links and Fairview Links in Port Elizabeth, was selected by the National Association of Social Housing Organisations (Nasho) to represent South Africa.

The study focuses on social housing and urban regeneration, green building, long-term asset management, and assisting social housing providers working with external consultants and other service providers.

Ngcezula said he was selected because Imizi Social Housing had been recognised as one of the rapidly growing institutions in the country.

"It so happens that our projects are considered as being a benchmark, to such an extent that other social housing institutions in the country, even those that are older than us, come and do study tours of our properties and get an understanding of how we manage them," he said.

"Nasho decided it would do me a world of good if they sent me to the conference to give a short presentation on how we do social housing here in Port Elizabeth."

He would be going there to soak up as much information as possible and would come back to apply what he had learnt.

"In terms of social housing, South Africa is still at an infancy stage and Canada is much more advanced.

"It is a developed country and I think there will come a time, maybe in about 10 years' time, when our social housing sector will have matured and we will apply all the things they are doing there, here," Ngcezula said.

"Maybe I will also have one or two things to share with them because social housing is different.

"Maybe they can note and pick up a couple of things and compare with how they do it.

"More than anything, it is me going there to extract more information about how to better manage social housing in the city."

He said it was quite a significant coup for a company from Nelson Mandela Bay to be recognised for its contribution to social housing in the country.

"Our first project, Walmer Links, won its second award in September, which shows ... we are representing the city in a positive way." - Thulani Gqirana