Executive Mayors
Municipal Managers
Mayco members and councillors
Directors of Asla Devco
Representatives of the National Home Builders Registration Council
Members of the Darling Housing Committee Beneficiaries
Ladies and gentlemen
It is a great honour for me to be here with you today to celebrate the handover of these houses to the Darling community. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Mayor of Swartland, Mr Tijmen van Essen, for inviting me here today. I commend him for the sterling work he and his team are doing to improve the lives of all the people of this province. I have no doubt that he will continue the fantastic job carried out by his predecessor, Anton Bredell, who is now my colleague in the provincial Cabinet.
For me, this is an auspicious occasion it is my first public address since I assumed the office of MEC for Housing a few weeks ago. In this time I have been working hard with my colleagues in cabinet and the officials in my department to come up with ways to accelerate housing delivery. Already, a clear picture is beginning to emerge of what we need to do to seriously tackle the housing backlog in this province.
One key realisation throughout this process, which has particular relevance for today, is the need to build and develop good relations with all stakeholders, not least the municipalities of this province.
We need to be honest that the relations between this province and the local governments of the Western Cape have not always been rosy. I know from my experience in the City of Cape Town how poor relations between spheres of government can stifle service delivery. We must, at all costs, ensure that intergovernmental relations are such that instead of hindering service delivery, they enhance it. After all, this is what is envisaged in our Constitution.
This project grew out of a partnership between the Western Cape Department of Local Government and Housing and the Swartland municipality. Since the inception of this project in November last year, 120 units are ready for inspection. By mid-December, 540 units are due to be ready for occupation.
Not only is the speed with which progress has been made on this project impressive, but the quality of each unit is of a high standard. It goes to show that quality and quantity are not mutually exclusive.
I was disturbed by press reports on the weekend which revealed that more than half of government housing projects nationally during the past 10 years have not been registered with the housing regulatory body, the National Home Builder's Registration Council (NHRBC), who is represented here today. I have instructed my officials to ascertain whether there are any Western Cape housing projects that are not registered with the NHRBC. I will make an announcement in this regard in due course. We simply cannot waste taxpayers' money on shoddy workmanship.
I have always been deeply impressed by the work of this municipality. It is consistently one of the best performing municipalities, as indicated by the numerous awards it wins on a regular basis. Unlike the many dysfunctional municipalities that periodically need to be rescued, Swartland is raising revenue and spending it wisely on infrastructure that will facilitate economic growth in the region. The fact that the municipality contributed R17 million in funding towards tarred roads and associated infrastructure for this project speaks volumes about the municipality's efficiency and its commitment to improving the lives of all the people of this province.
It is not just the beneficiaries who gain from a project such as this there are far-reaching knock-on effects. In this regard, I would like to make special mention of the fact that the Darling housing project was identified to pilot the youth in housing programme in the province. Already, 10 young people have completed courses in construction management, carpentry, bricklaying and roofing. These learners are now acquiring skills first hand through assisting with the construction of the top structures in this project.
Congratulations to all of you involved in the programme that are here today, I wish you everything of the best for your future.
Earlier I mentioned the importance of building partnerships with our stakeholders in general and municipalities in particular. This is not a public relations exercise, we really do mean it. The Western Cape government's plan is to give those municipalities with sufficient capacity the accreditation they require to become fully-fledged housing developers. We will also make provincial land available for these municipalities so that they can house more people.
We have kick-started this process already with the City of Cape Town. At some point soon we will look at doing the same in Swartland and other municipalities that have sufficient capacity to take more responsibility for housing.
This is an important policy shift. Current budgetary constraints coupled with the recession mean that we will struggle to build more houses than the 16 000 per annum target. At this rate we will find it difficult to make a dent on the housing backlog in the Western Cape, which currently stands at around 450 000.
This is why we need to be innovative with the resources at our disposal. If we allow good municipalities to become fully-fledged developers and build the capacity of those that are not yet ready, we will cut a great deal of the red tape that can hamstring housing projects.
I am not suggesting that granting accreditation is a panacea, that it will solve all of our problems. On the contrary, we must be honest about the scale of the challenges we face. It would be gravely irresponsible for me to begin raising expectations that cannot be achieved. We didn't do this in the run-up to the election and we won't do so now that we are in government.
All I can promise is that this administration will strive to develop innovative new ways to accelerate housing delivery in this province. We will also root our corruption by, as Premier Helen Zille says, letting the sunlight into the administration. We are committed to working hard in partnership with communities, municipalities and the private sector to create housing opportunities in a manner that is just, equitable and fair. We are not just building houses; we are building one nation with one future.
Today, I have outlined some of the themes that I will develop in my budget speech on Thursday, 18 June. It is then that I will spell out our housing plan for the Western Cape in some detail. So, for now I wish to once again express my gratitude to the Mayor of Swartland for this opportunity and to all of you involved in this project. I hope to see you all again later in the year when the project is completed and our deserving beneficiaries have taken ownership of their new homes.
Thank you very much
Baie dankie
Source: Western Cape Provincial Government
