Speaking notes for the Director General Department of Human Settlements, Mr T Zulu on the occasion of the launch of the Bachelor of Social Sciences in Human Settlements. Alice Campus of Fort Hare University
Programme Director
Vice Chancellor Fort Hare University
MEC Human Settlements
Premier of the Province Of Eastern Cape
Honourable Minister of Human Settlements,
Academics
Ladies and Gentlemen
Students
All protocol observed.
As the Department of Human Settlements we are committed to continually improving the quality of service delivery we provide to our citizens. One of the Batho Pele principles we as government are often cognisant of is the: "people first." principle. It is therefore opportune that we are here today to support the launch of a new degree programme. One which speaks to our core mandate of effusing our every action with the MANDATE to serve. We take our lead from the great servant leaders who walked these hallways, such as the father of our nation, President Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela and many other luminaries that provided servant leadership even beyond our borders.
This is the legacy which we seek to honour, preserve, nurture and sustain. In this regard, the University of Fort is leader in partnership with Department of Human Settlements and the Local Government Seta which is supporting the development of a new cadre of public servants. One which is driven, competent, focussed, empowered and professional in its outlook.
The Department is consolidating its effort of Professionalising the delivery of human settlements by implementing a focussed professionalisation strategy which has five key pillars.
The first pillar of this strategy seeks to open up multiple education pathways for professional and technical education in human settlements management. The Department is implementing this pillar in-conjunction with the NMMU, the University of Fort Hare as well as the University of South Africa. All three of these institutions have responded to the call by the National Department by developing named degrees in human settlements management. These are multidisciplinary qualifications with focused education in the creation of integrated and sustainable human settlements.
The University of Fort Hare Degree is being launched today with an initial intake of 50 students. In addition, the Department, in partnership with the Local Government SETA has opened up more than 200 opportunities to study human settlements or qualifications cognate to the Built environment. These students will form the professional core of the youth brigade which was launched by the Minister last year. We are therefore delivering on the promise to involve the youth in the human settlements value chain.
The second pillar of the professionalisation strategy is to promote the development of a coherent body of knowledge in sustainable human settlements development and management. In this regard the Department will also be launching a textbook in Human settlements during 2015. This project has been led by the Nelson Mandela Metro University. This educational resource will allow new students as well as experienced practitioners to have a valuable tool which provides an overview of the art and science of human settlements management.
The third pillar is to promote an evidenced based approach to Human settlements implementation. The Mangosuthu University of Technology has recently accepted an offer from the Department of Human Settlements to establish a Research Chair in Human Settlements to be based at the MUT. This chair will be located in the Faculty of Management Sciences.
The establishment of a research chair in human settlements positions MUT to contribute to a national research agenda aligned to our government’s service delivery mandate.
Furthermore, the chair will facilitate the attraction of postgraduate students into defined research themes cognate to human settlements. It will also allow MUT to offer specialisation in Human Settlements education pathways at Postgraduate Diploma and Degree levels. These plans will support the goals captures in the country’s National Development Plan as well as the Department’s vision to professionalise the delivery of integrated and sustainable human settlements.
The other pillars supporting the professionalisation of Human Settlements include: the continued and life-long professional development; the promotion of a coherent community of practice and community engagement; and the research and international exchange.
The end goal of the professionalisation strategy is to establish a professional body for Human settlements practitioners by 2016. This body will radically change the approach to service delivery at a national, provincial and local level by establishing high performance norms, standards of professional conduct and generally enhance the quality of service delivery to our citizens at large.
Our vision is to build a cadre of professionals who are socially conscious, demographically representative, technically competent, globally competitive and most of all are responsive to the needs of our citizens.
University of Fort Hare we thank you for your kind contribution to our professionalisation efforts. May we together build a proud legacy which will last another 100 years.
I thank you all.
