Chairperson;
Minister Lindiwe Sisulu;
Chairperson of the Human Settlements Portfolio Committee, Hon. Nocawe Mafu;
Honorable Members of Parliament and honoured guests;
The people of Dunoon, my constituency;
I greet you all this afternoon.
May I also extend a word of welcome to the Director-General Thabane Zulu and his Human Settlements team which includes Chairpersons and CEOs of our housing institutions. Greetings to all the staff in the Ministry led by Francois Hugo.
Fellow South Africans, we are having this budget vote at the time when we are mourning the passing of an ANC member of Parliament, Hon. Nosipho Ntwanambi, who was the former Chief Whip of the NCOP and a Deputy President of the ANC Women’s League. Just two weeks ago, we laid to rest a military veteran Cde. Lumko Huna.
These were both selfless leaders who sacrificed their lives to the struggle. We shall pick up their fallen spears. May their souls rest in peace.
On the 18th of July 2014 the birthday of the world icon, the first President of the democratic South Africa, Tata Nelson Mandela, will be marked all over the world. We will commit ourselves to do cleaning as instructed by our President Jacob Zuma in his State of the Nation Address.
As we mark 20 years of freedom we do so by responding positively to the historic document of our people, the Freedom Charter, which states that there “shall be houses, security and comfort” and the manifesto of the ruling party. In line with this, the Department is expected to do the following.
Progressively ensure that all South Africans live in decent conditions in human settlements closer to the places of work with access to basic service and social amenities.
- Provide 1.5 million houses in the next five years.
- Accelerate the provision of basic services and infrastructure in all existing informal settlements.
- Mobilise for supply of affordable housing to teachers, nurses, police officers, etc.
- Eliminate the Title Deeds backlog
We are proud of our track record as we gear ourselves to redouble our efforts in the delivery of housing in the next five years.
The National Development Plan
- Calls upon us to respond systematically to entrenched apartheid spatial patterns that still exacerbate social inequality and economic inefficiency.
- It calls upon us to review housing policies to better realise the constitutional mandate of providing adequate housing.
- It further calls upon us to ensure that delivery is used to restructure towns and cities to strengthen the livelihood prospects of households.
- It directs us to radically revise the housing finance regime, to mention just a few.
Chairperson, the Department of Human Settlements does have a good story to tell. In the past 20 years we have built more than 3,7million houses benefiting well over 12 million people. More than 400 000 households in well located informal settlements have been provided with access to basic services and secure tenure in the past five years alone. More South Africans have access to basic electricity and water than they had back in 1994.
During the early years, the Department of Human Settlements focused on the provision of housing to the people in the lower end of the housing market, those earning between R0 and R3 500 a month. This category qualifies for a full government subsidy. The municipalities and provinces are urged to prioritise the allocation of houses to the most vulnerable sectors, namely, the elderly, people with disabilities and child headed households.
Over the years, our policies have evolved and we now facilitate the provision of rental accommodation through the Social Housing Regulatory Authority, and affordable housing which we deliver through the revised Finance Linked Individual Subsidy Programme managed by the National Housing Finance Corporation. These programmes cater for different income categories ranging from R3 501 to R15 000 and are meant to normalise the housing market.
Chairperson, the Department of Human Settlements also regulates the sectional titles market. This we do through the newly established Community Schemes Ombud led by Board Chairperson Reverend Vukile Mehana.
The transfer of the Estate Agency Affairs Board (EAAB) from the Department of Trade and Industry to the Department of Human Settlements has completed our institutional arrangements of making sure that the Department regulates the entire housing market. This empowers us to urgently use all the tools at our disposal to correct the distortions in the housing market that remain with us 20 years into our democracy.
This year EAAB is going to train 10 000 young people as estate state agencies in partnership with SETA.
NURCHA has intensified its role of giving bridging finance to contractors. We are excited about their incubator programme with SEDA.
We call upon all provinces to intensify the delivery of housing in the rural areas. The Rural Housing Load Fund – RHLF continue to provide loans to people who want to improve their homes. We will work closely with the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform in provision of houses in the rural areas. We have agreed that voucher scheme must be fast tracked.
As government we have intensified the upgrading of informal settlements. We have achieved this through the National Upgrading Support Programme (NUSP) in partnership with the Housing Development Agency (HDA). NUSP is meant to support provinces and municipalities in upgrading informal settlements and to build capacity within local authorities. We have 50 municipalities taking part in the NUSP programme as we speak and all mining towns will be included this current financial year.
The success of informal settlement upgrading programmes lies on our ability to draw in affected communities. It is critical that they are active participants and not passive recipients of government’s delivery programme. We must promote the notion of an active citizenry in line the NDP
I am happy that the Department has taken this issue seriously.
On our annual performance plans and Medium Term Strategic Framework we are committing ourselves to increase the participation of stakeholders in housing delivery by encouraging community based organisations, civil society and other forms of non-governmental entities to take part in the human settlements delivery chain.
We do so as we believe that we are all creative beings, we have dreams, we have an imagination and we are able to think. Our bodies are the tools of creativity. What people want is that as government we must create a conducive environment in order for them to unleash their potential. There are no free travelers on the earth space, we are all one crew.
As a Department, we also have to promote the use of alternative building technologies as we seek to build integrated and sustainable human settlements. The NHBRC is leading in this regard to not only promote the use of alternative technologies, but to make sure that the material used is of high standards.
Next month, the country will commemorate the 1956 Women March to the Union Buildings. As a Department we mark this historic occasion by hosting a Women’s Build in partnership will all our stakeholders where we build, led by women contractors who build quality homes, housing units for vulnerable groups such as the elderly, people with disabilities and child headed households.
Last year we were in Port St John’s in the Eastern Cape, Kimberly in the Northern Cape, and Oudtshoorn in the Western Cape where we empowered local women though mentorships. We are happy that the South African Women in Construction has finally been awarded 500 houses and 500 toilets to build in Sokhuluni Village in Tshwane.
MINMEC has taken a decision that 30% of provincial projects must be set aside for women contractors. Thanks to Minister Lindiwe Sisulu for instructing NHFC to ensure that 1 956 houses are to be built by women contractors in all provinces. This is really radical economic transformation for women contractors. It is indeed an exciting moment.
PHP
We will continue to reactivate communities to support the People’s Housing Process (PHP). This programme needs to be supported because it gives ordinary women an opportunity to build houses for each other. However, there are unresolved issues that need to be attended to.
As a Department we are working closely with Slum Dwellers International, Federation of Urban Poor and others. We also visited India together with SDI where we learnt about a concept of sustainable livelihood when dealing with issues of human settlements.
Youth empowerment
The Department of Human Settlements hosts Youth Builds annually to commemorate the role played by the youth in the struggle for democracy. Every year the youth builds 76 houses. In this process of building these houses the department identifies young people for training in plumbing, electricity, and so on. The programme seeks to address the skills gaps in the construction industry. We are also in the process of professionalising the housing delivery. The Human Settlements Degree offered at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University is but one example.
MINMEC also approved a framework for the empowerment and participation of the youth in human settlements.
This year our youth build was held in Galeshewe in Kimberly where 76 houses were built. They are of good quality houses built with face brick. Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa visited the project and laid bricks. We are urging provinces to identify youth contractors and empowering them accordingly. We do this in partnership with NYDA and other stakeholders.
Houses for Military Veterans
We welcome the Minster’s announcement to fast track the building of houses for military veterans. We will do so in partnership with the department of Military Veterans.
We also had a number of dialogues with people living with disability in Mitchells Plain. This was attended by the Deputy Minister Bogopane Zulu. One of the resolutions of that engagement was the call for the Department to open regional offices in provinces for closer access to communities. This engagement was attended by the DDG Maphisa.
International relations
As a country we are part of the secretariat of the African Ministerial Conference on Housing and Urban Development (AMCHUD). The Chair of AMCHUD is Chad. We are in the process of preparing a Habitat III report that will be submitted in September 2014 in New York by the Minister.
We will be hosting the Slum Upgrading Conference in March 2015, a decision which was taken in Morocco in November 2013. In line with the decision we have taken at the World Urban Forum in Napoli, Italy, we formed a National Urban Forum. Our objective is to facilitate a multi-sectoral dialogue with a range of stakeholders in preparation for Habitat III Conference. We will take part in the NHBRC conference in Canada in September 2014.
In conclusion
Allow me to thank the NHBRC for facilitating the building of a disabled friendly house built with new technology for Mrs. Dyidi in Nyanga. I would like to thank Okavango builders and the University of Namibia for partnering with us on this project. The house will be handed over in August as part of the Women’s month celebrations.
Ingama lama khosikhazi’Malibongwe
