Address by MEC of KwaZulu-Natal Human Settlements and Public Works Maggie Govender on occasion of handing over of title deeds to Copesville Community

The Programme director
The Mayor of the uMsunduzi Municipality, Councillor Mike Tarr
Amakhosi present
Councillors present
Officials from local and provincial government
Residents of Copesville
All others present and all protocol observed

Last year I met with the administrator who had been appointed to assist in the management of the uMsunduzi Municipality to look at how we could address issues relating to housing in the municipality. It was a good meeting and we were able to agree on things that could be done to improve the delivery of housing in this municipality. Indeed, there have been numerous difficulties in the delivery of housing in the municipality – the issue of infrastructure such as water and sanitation as well as roads – all of which fall outside the mandate and competence of the Department of Human settlements are just some that I can mention. However, with a common will and Mayor Tarr here has expressed that will we can make progress. I will be reporting on some exciting developments for uMsunduzi when I present my budget speech on Friday – so as they say – watch this space!

The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Human Settlements is committed to delivering quality human settlements. We want to make sure that we use public money in the best possible way to ensure that our people get the best service from government. As such, we are pleased to hand over title deeds to the residents of Copesville who have lived with the indignity of zero recognition as home owners. These title deeds are your passports to homeownership; I can only imagine the elation that must be going through your hearts and minds. This is a government working at its best led by the African National Congress.

Our work as a department covers ensuring that we get rid of slums and provide our people with houses of good quality that are built close to transport, schools, clinics and other social amenities like sports fields. To this end, our department has so far built over 500 000 houses in KwaZulu-Natal. There is even more to come. As I stand here talking to you, I can report that we have over 600 housing projects all over our province. These projects cover rental housing, rural housing projects, social housing, hostels and low-income housing. You all, as citizens can now feel proud of being officially recognised as home owners.

Another part of our work as the Department of Human Settlements is to assist those whose homes have been damaged or destroyed by storms, fires, floods and other disasters. Right now even as we are here, there are a team of contractors who are re-building hard at work in our province rebuilding and repairing homes that have been damaged or destroyed by disasters. As a department we are committed to making sure that we attend to the damage caused by storms quickly so that people can get on with their lives with shelter over their heads. We will have re-built close onto 1 000 houses throughout the province by the end of April.

Our aim is to provide decent housing for our people and to do this while making sure that public money is well spent and that we get value for money. Unfortunately there are many projects where our people have received houses of poor quality – where the walls start cracking, where foundations are damp, where roofs start leaking, where bricks are held together with more sand than cement – yes, you know what I am talking about.

This is not acceptable. We cannot allow our communities to be abused in this way where government is paying and paying well for something that is not value for money.

As the Department of Human Settlements we will make sure that companies and people who are guilty of this kind of abuse are made to pay. We will make those responsible for poor construction of houses rebuild the houses properly – at their own cost or we will re-build the houses and claim the costs from the guilty party. Whatever the case, we are saying enough is enough.

As government and as communities we must speak out against those who seek to fleece government and thereby deprive poor people by taking public money, not doing things properly and not giving us value for the money that we are paying them.

This new administration led by President Jacob Zuma and the African National Congress is committed to doing things differently. The president has said that we must be a government that serves the needs of our people - we must be service-oriented – and we must ensure that we deliver the services that our people need effectively, efficiently and speedily. The President has made it clear that we must not make empty promises. We must not just talk – we must act.

We have also been working hard to ensure that projects where people are entitled to take ownership of their homes but which have not yet been refurbished are actually put back on track. In the last few weeks we have seen the resumption of the Shallcross Flats refurbishment program and more recently the resumption of the Austerville Flays refurbishment. These projects have a collective value of over R130 million and will lead to people being able to take ownership of their homes.

Under the leadership of Premier, Dr Zweli Mkhize we have the war on poverty programme called Sukuma Sakhe. As part of this programme, all government departments work together visiting the poorest, most deprived households in our province to bring health, welfare and other services to them. We also try to bring food security to our people through the one home one garden campaign where we provide seeds to households and encourage them to grow their own food.

As the Department of Public Works we have broadened this programme to include food gardens at government buildings. As a result of this we were also able to give Mr Magwaza Spinach that has been grown at one of the Department of Public Works’ food gardens. Here in Msunduzi, we have been able to provide homes for several vulnerable people including some aged women who were identified as being amongst those in desperate need by the cadres who work on implementing the war on poverty programme. Indeed, this programme is making a difference to the lives of our people, in particular to those who are the hardest hit by poverty.

This now brings me back to the reason why we are here. Today is a very important day for the 107 beneficiaries who will finally be receiving their title deeds. With approved funding from the Department of Human Settlements, government housing stock has been transferred to beneficiaries in Copesville Township. This exercise of encouraging home ownership with beneficiaries receiving title deeds to their houses was made possible with the implementation of the Enhanced Extended Discount Benefit Scheme (EEDBS). The EEDBS allows for people who have rented their homes from the municipality for a number of years to take ownership of their houses.  People have rented for over 15 years. This is not acceptable. Government takes into account the value of the house and subsidises a portion of the amount according to the income of the individual. This in effect makes it possible for the person who has living in that house to eventually become a home owner.

A Tribunal that will be set up for cases where there are disputes. This tribunal will be formed by representatives from the municipality, from the Department of Human Settlements and members from the same community as you. This will ensure that this process addresses the concerns of the community.

Today is indeed a momentous occasion. There is no other sense of pride and achievement, than when a man/woman receives a title deed to his or her own home. This instills in a person, the feeling of belonging and patriotism. However this has been a long wait for the  residents of Copesville. In Copesville 363 people have already received their title deeds and today you are part of the additional 107 who will do the same – we are moving!

You have waited for a long time and today it is your time.

Our Premier, Dr Zweli Mkhize, said in his State of the Province Address, “we have committed ourselves publicly to build an image of clean governance, inspired by our determination to uproot the menace of fraud and corruption in our government.” My Department of Human Settlements has made great in progress in the fight against fraud and corruption.

We have a signed memorandum of understanding with the special investigations unit and we work closely with the commercial crimes unit and other law enforcement agencies to ensure that government is not fleeced anymore. We must not allow corruption to rob our people of what is rightfully theirs. We must not rest until all the corrupt elements are rooted out.

I must also tell you that the process of ensuring that the rightful owners take ownership of their properties is not an easy one and one that is sometimes open to abuse. As we speak here today, I can tell you that we have had three officials of my department who were fraudulently selling houses and pocketing the money. Fortunately due to information provided, in part, by members of the community such as yourselves, we were able to pick up what was happening and take the necessary action.

I am pleased to tell you that all three, including the one who was doing this in Copesville, have been dismissed. Furthermore, they are now facing criminal charges. We are sending a clear message – do not attempt to defraud government. There is no room for corrupt and criminal activities that steal from our people.

Lastly, I want to share with you what we are doing to try and improve the quality of people’s lives in rural areas. As we all know, in many areas in KwaZulu-Natal there is a shortage of water and people, mainly women and children have to wake up early and walk long distances to collect water. We have decided that in order to help such people living in rural areas , we will make sure that houses built in a rural area will have water tanks installed as well.  I am sure we all know what a difference this will make to our people’s lives.

All of this follows up on what our President, President Zuma, has told us we, as government must do. We must make sure that we deliver services to our people, people must  have housing, schools and access to health and very importantly we must try to create jobs and work opportunities. You will find, whenever there is a human settlement project, there will be work for people. Our president has said that we must create jobs and work opportunities for our people and that is what we will do.

In fact, as our President says, working together we can do more.

Thank you.

Source: KwaZulu-Natal Department of Human Settlements and Public Works