Western Cape Human Settlements Minister Bonginkosi Madikizela presented the closing address at the Southern African Housing Federation Conference at the Cape Sun, Strand Street, Cape Town on 19 September 2012. The conference, titled ‘Building Capacity for Sustainable Delivery’ and comprising of 45 speakers, drew delegates from Southern Africa, Australia, Canada, the USA and the United Kingdom.
“The biggest problem we have is not lack of capacity, but displaced capacity. We have a job vacancy rate of about 850 000 in private and public sector, and around 600 000 unemployed graduates. Here we have an example of displaced capacity.”
“There is a massive problem in civil society leadership. Before 1994 there were strong civil leaders, who subsequently moved into government. Today, there is a lack of depth of quality leadership in civil society. Any development is a partnership between government and civil society, and private citizens also need to take responsibility in meeting the delivery challenges. Government can’t do it alone; delivery needs willing and co-operative partnership with civil society. We need to develop civil society leadership.”
“Service delivery protests happen where services are being delivered, but the resources are limited so that people are competing for resources. This shows that delivery is happening.”
“It is true that in some municipalities there is a lack of capacity, but in some areas there is an oversupply. Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has suggested a central public service to assist in areas where capacity is lacking. However, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. I don’t believe that in areas where capacity is adequate, we have to change our systems.”
“Enough capacity is present among the different participants among industry, business, civil society and government. We need to strengthen our partnerships so we can work together with those who can assist us in closing the gaps.”
“Under my tenure, we have taken the lead in the Western Cape with initiatives to build capacity for delivery, including appointing teams of professionals called PRTs, or Professional Resource Teams, to assist with under capacitated municipalities and to help unblock projects. The department is spending around R500 000 per month on these teams. We have also improved the housing database with the HDDIP (Housing Demand Data Improvement Program), and have developed an information system to track and manage our complex projects, called the Project Management Unit (PMU).”
For media enquiries:
Bruce Oom, Spokesman for Minister Bonginkosi Madikizela
Tel: 021 483 6622
Fax: 021 483 3888
Cell : 072 4655 177
