During the Department of Human Settlement’s budget vote debate yesterday, the Minister of Human Settlement, Ms Mmamoloko Kubayi, said her department is working hard to ensure that they live up to the Constitution’s promise of a home and security for all. “To us, a promise made is a promise kept,” she said.
To this end, the department has committed to improve policy frameworks, capacity and instruments to deliver on its mandate and to meet the expectations set out in the Medium-Term Budget Speech.
In accounting for various milestones the department has achieved, the Minister said that 1 269 informal settlements have been upgraded, out of a target of 1 500. The reminder are at various stages of upgrading. The department is working with various civil society organisations to achieve more in this regard. One example of this is the department’s relationship with Abahlali Basenjondolo in KwaZulu-Natal, which has led to a working relationship set up to tackle disasters in informal settlements in the province.
The department is also playing an active role in the United Nations’s Global Action Plan Framework for the Eradication of Slums. This is so that the government’s work forms part of the greater global agenda and influences the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals in urban development.
Turning to the department’s efforts to transform the construction sector, the government is committed to transforming bidding patterns to ensure that women are empowered to play an active role in the sector. Another departmental priority is to embrace innovative building technology as a solution to achieving sustainable, good quality and improved efficiency and cost-effective disaster management responses. This is to ensure that the homes we build are climate-change resilient.
Meanwhile, the department is committed to eradicating informal settlements and restoring people’s dignity. “To date, we have secured 539 hectares of land from the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure [and] 1 500 hectare of land that is both private and publicly owned for social houses some in urban areas as a means to eradicate apartheid spatial planning.”
Participating in the debate, the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Human Settlement, Ms Machwene Semenya, said the department must implement the Auditor-General’s findings to ensure that there is progress and efficient provision of services. The committee welcomes, meanwhile, the department’s efforts to eradicate asbestos roofs and mud houses. However, the committee would like further information about where and when these interventions occurred to allow members of the committee to conduct oversight over them. The Chairperson also welcomed the digitalisation of housing waiting lists and the introduction of technology in the department’s construction processes.
Mr Luyolo Mpithi of the Democratic Alliance said that the hopes and dreams of the 13 million people living in informal settlements that they would live to experience the rights enshrined in the Constitution have been destroyed by the Department of Human Settlements.
He added that the Minister alludes to a list of service deliverables that the department has achieved or aims to achieve in the 2023-2024 financial year, but in reality it is difficult to track and trace these target indicators. “The fact that it’s difficult to even ascertain them, makes their list a hollow promise.” For instance, he pointed out, the National Housing Finance Corporation is yet to indicate what happened to the missing millions transferred to it for housing rental relief. Also, little has been done to investigate the R150 million that was spent irregularly by the Housing Development Agency.
Abel Mputing
11 May 2023
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