Policy and Budget Speech 2013/14: MEC MA Gamede Mpumalanga Department of Human Settlements, Provincial Legislature, Nelspruit

Honourable Speaker and Deputy Speaker,
Honourable Premier, Mr DD Mabuza,
African National Congress Leadership,
Chief Whip on the Majority Party (ANC),
Honourable Members of the Executive Council,
Honourable Members of the Provincial Legislature,
Chairperson: Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements and CoGTA,
Chairperson: House of Traditional Leadership,
Representatives of the Business Community,
Representatives of Labour Federations,
The Director General, Dr N Mkhize (Office of the Premier),
HOD Human Settlements and staff members,
Distinguished guests,
Members of the media,
Fellow compatriots,
Citizens of the province.

Introduction

Honourable Speaker, I am greatly humbled to be given such an opportunity to present my maiden Policy and Budget Presentation for the Department of Human Settlements, Vote 13 which changed from Housing to Human Settlements in the beginning of this term of administration with a clear focus on an integrated developmental advance as outlined by Outcome Eight.

The formation of the African National Congress (ANC) in 1912 was a culmination of our people’s struggles against colonial domination and racist oppression. The mission of the ANC has always been to unite all South Africans and work towards the liberation of Africans, in particular and Blacks in general.

The Natives Land Act (1913)

Honourable Speaker, this year marks exactly 100 years since the enactment of the 1913 Natives Land Act. This Act meant that Blacks were deprived of their rights to shelter, became homeless - a situation which forced them to go work in mines, domestic work, and generally inferior jobs.

The huge housing backlog that we see today is as a result of the introduction of the Act in 1913, which immediately declared all Africans to be homeless.

Freedom Charter (1955)

Sequel to the enactment of the Act in 1913, which undermined people of their freedom - the majority of people resisted the oppression imposed by the Act. This led to the adoption of the Freedom Charter in 1955.

Hon. Speaker, the noble vision of a united and non-sexist human settlement was proclaimed by the Charter that:

"There shall be Houses, Security and Comfort!

All people shall have the right to live where they choose, be decently housed, and bring up their families in comfort and security,

Unused housing space to be made available to the people......

Slums shall be demolished, and new suburbs built where all have transport, roads, lighting, playing fields, crèches and social centres."

The declaration by the people’s congress clearly had a Human Settlements Department in their mind in a free South Africa. Our existence as this department is derived directly from the people’s congress in Kliptown.

State of the Province Address (SoPA)

Speaker, Premier DD Mabuza in his State of the Province Address reaffirming the provinces’ commitment of delivering integrated human settlements, - "As a country and the province in particular, we have made a decisive shift from providing housing to building integrated human settlements."

These are the critical issues that he raised:

• complete all the incomplete houses,
• finalise the outstanding work on the establishment of integrated Human Settlements in Klarinet, Emakhazeni, Dipaleseng and Thaba Chweu,
• focus on spatial planning and integrated development planning for Umjindi, Nkomazi, Msukaligwa and Mbombela;
• speed up and finalise the implementation of the people housing programme (PHP) in all the CRDP municipalities,
• conduct township establishment in eMalahleni, Govan Mbeki, Steve Tshwete and Mbombela as part of eliminating informal settlements, and
• provide basic services and elimination of backlogs
• expanding Access to Basic Services.

The realisations of these services are in line with the commitment by government to deal with three stubborn social ills, namely - poverty, inequality and under-development.

Departmental challenges and interventions

Honourable Members, having said that, the department has in the last few years experienced challenges that undermined service delivery.

Speaker let me take this opportunity to thank the Hon. Premier for his intervention into getting to the source of the problem in the department. I want to be upfront and admit that there are impediments that find themselves in the system.

Human Resource Constraints:

The human resource has been a challenge affecting the department. The implementation of projects faced difficulties owing to poor planning, project monitoring and management. With the assistance of the Cabinet, the department appointed the following personnel whom we think will better position the department going forward:

• Mr ED Awogu: Chief Director Incremental Interventions. He has an Honours Degree in Urban and Regional Planning and a Post Graduate Diploma in Computer Science.
• Dr AB Shabane: Chief Director People’s Housing Process and Rural Development. He has a B.Paed Degree, BA Honours Degree, and Post Graduate Diploma in Professional Development.
• Mr SEB Matsebula: Chief Financial Officer. He has 13 years experience in financial management and auditing within the public sector. Broken down, he has two years in auditing, six years in middle management, five years in senior management specialising in Management Accounting, Financial Accounting and Supply Chain Management. He has a National Diploma in Internal Auditing and B-Compt Accounting Science.

Beneficiary Management:

• The process of beneficiary identification has been one of the biggest challenges which have led to most of the problems.
• This led to late submission of subsidy application forms, resulting in delays in the construction process.
• The uncontrolled processing of the beneficiaries submitted by municipalities has led to subsidies being awarded to those who are not amongst the most needy and vulnerable within our communities.
• The issue of untraceable beneficiaries has largely been fuelled by collusion by some municipal officials with contractors in the occupation of houses by persons not approved on the Housing Subsidy System (HSS).
• There is also a possibility that some departmental officials may be involved.

To address the problem, the following will be done:

• We have started with the process of upfront capturing of beneficiaries,
• Each municipality will be allocated a human settlement official to deal with the identification and management of beneficiaries working with Community Development Workers (CDWs) and ward councillors,
• A draft policy on the prioritisation of beneficiaries, i.e. the aged, the disabled, and child headed households has been developed,
• The department and municipalities will intensify the capturing of potential beneficiaries on the Housing Needs Register,Policy and Budget Speech 2013/14: MEC M.A Gamede Mpumalanga Department of Human Settlements. Provincial Legislature, Nelspruit, 28 May, 2013 4
• Each waiting list must have an approved council resolution per municipality,
• The department will investigate an IT system of improving the screening and verification of potential beneficiaries, and
• Since 1994, the province has delivered over 173 000 houses and we will be looking at a possibility of conducting an impact assessment study on housing occupancy.

This will give us comfort as to who are occupying each house, whether these houses are used for the intended purposes, and determine how many of those occupants are eligible to alienate the property after eight years as stipulated by the Housing Amendment Act. (This includes selling, renting, conversion, etc.)

Incompetent contractors

Again, let me admit that it does appear that in some cases incompetent contractors were appointed to deliver houses.

• This led to the delivery of poor quality,
• Incomplete projects,
• Delays in the completion of projects
• Contractors not using South African National Standards (SANS) approved material, and
• There is a high possibility that some of our inspectors are colluding with contractors

To rectify these challenges, this is what we are going to do:

• The department will strengthen its Supply Chain Management systems, by rotating officials,
• We will also undertake joint inspections between the departmental inspectors and officials designated by the municipality,
• Improve on contract and project management,
• We will also blacklist contractors that are involved in fraud and poor work
• Any of our inspectors to have been found approving houses not meeting approved standards will be dealt with.

Ageing Infrastructure and Municipal Development

Municipalities are an area where the department delivers its services. The apparent slow phase of municipal growth regarding infrastructure, and servicing of sites, due to demand pressures, you find that budgets meant for Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) are used for something else.

This state impedes the department in delivering projects with ease. To address this challenge, the department will do the following:

• Increasing our equitable share in assisting municipalities,
• Undertake joint integrated planning with municipalities,
• Extensive engagements with municipalities, traditional leadership and other departments, and
• Ensure that implementation of projects are in line with IDPs and SDFs.

Land invasion

In the last few years we have observed an unprecedented phenomenon of land grab or invasion in some parts of the province. The department will work closely with municipalities and traditional leaders in ensuring that the identification and allocation of land is in line with municipal Integrated Development Plans (IDP). Equally important is to make adequate budget available for township establishment to ensure the processing of title deeds.

Title Deeds

• Some old four-roomed houses are without title deeds,
• Some government houses have been built at un-proclaimed areas, and
• No township register in some proclaimed areas.

In addressing this challenges:

• We will ensure that township establishment processes are conducted, and
• Increase our capacity to expedite title deeds registrations.
• We will be investigating possible collusion of some bank officials and legal firms where houses are being auctioned and sold at exorbitant amounts. (e.g. Mr Khoza’s matter at eMalahleni)

Administration

Following administrative challenges that impacted negatively to the smooth-running of the department, the Honourable Premier and the Provincial Administration identified some weaknesses and intervened swiftly.

Fraud and Corruption

As you know that the department is under investigation by the Hawks and the Special Investigating Unit, we will be cooperating with them so to conclude these processes.

We are pleading with them to expedite these processes so the department can move on.

• Going forward, we are going to be aligning and placing officials in all municipalities,
• Improving on risk management and internal control systems, and
• Investigate establishing a departmental complaints call centre.

Achievements for 2012/13

Honourable Members, despite the challenges encountered over the years, the department managed to deliver a total of 7 571 units during the 2012/13 financial year. The department also constructed 224 family units (Community Residential Units) and one Community Hall at Bushbuckridge Local Municipality.

The breakdown of the above units per instrument is as follows: