“I’m passionate about improving the human condition, especially within poorer, disadvantaged communities,” says ASLA DEVCO’s project manager Belinda Munsamy-Swartland. “It’s the reason I studied a Social Sciences degree. It motivated my decision to work within the public sector for a large part of my career and is also one of the reasons for my joining ASLA.”
Belinda joined ASLA DEVCO as a project manager in 2019, after having worked at the Theewaterskloof Municipality for 11 years. One of her key projects at the municipality was overseeing the Destiny Farm project, an informal housing project – comprising of 1821 erven – located on the slopes of the farming town of Villiersdorp. The municipality purchased the land for housing in 2012 and after almost 11 years of planning, the development was finally recommended for approval in February 2023. “Destiny Farm has been a passion project of mine since 2012, so I am very invested in its success,” says Belinda, who is the project manager responsible for managing the planning and implementation of this, and other ASLA DEVCO projects.
ASLA DEVCO acts as an implementation agent that provides various public sector clients a holistic service encompassing the provision of basic infrastructure, housing and service delivery. As a project manager Belinda works in close collaboration with clients, service providers, professional teams, and beneficiaries, to take infrastructure and housing projects from planning to implementation. Having once represented an organ of State, she is able to look at a project from both sides, while also having a deep understanding of informal settlements and patterns of behaviour.
“Whether I’m representing ASLA or the municipality, the community doesn’t see an institution or organisation. They see you,” she explains. “So, you are ASLA, and you are the municipality.”
Belinda says that one of the reasons she moved across to the private sector was that the red tape and processes that need to be followed in the public sector could get frustrating as they would slow down progress and decision making. Since joining the private sector, she also feels more comfortable building relationships (without fear of being accused of unfair favour) with service providers and professional teams, such as the architects, land surveyors, environmentalists, town planners, contractors etc. who participate in various stages of a project’s development.
The full development lifecycle of informal or subsidised housing developments can be anywhere between seven to ten years, with the planning stages often taking up three, or even more of those years. Since joining ASLA four years ago she has implemented several projects. However, following her long journey with the Destiny Farm project, it is one that has a special place in her heart.
Her implementation experience spans two informal settlement projects in Cederberg and Matzikama, as well as housing developments for the Matzikama Municipality and Cederberg Local Municipality (Lutzville, Vredendal, Citrusdal and Lamberts Bay), and Robertson Nkqubela for the Langeberg Municipality. Here she has enjoyed the privilege of participating in house handovers to beneficiaries who have often been waiting for decades.
“I like what I’m doing, it’s quite challenging,” says Belinda. “It can take years for something to happen, so I’ll be working on a few projects, at various stages in their development. There isn’t really a routine.”
An absolute highlight of the role is when a project is in the final stages, where homes are being handed over to beneficiaries. “When you give the keys to their house to an old person, who has been living in shambles for all their life, and then watch as they walk into a still empty house… Even though there is nothing in it yet, they don’t want to leave. It is so amazing to see. One just feels the need to give that person a hug. And yes. I do!”
The hope and dream are of course that one day in the not-too-distant years ahead, she will guide the Destiny Farm project to fruition and be able to officially hand over the first key to a new homeowner. Surely she must be predestined to perform this beautiful and symbolic act, and following the official sod-turning at the Destiny Farm on 17 November 2023, Belinda may just be a little bit closer to that becoming a reality!
