Good afternoon Honourable House Chairperson
Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi Ministers and Deputy Ministers All MECs
Honourable Members
SALGA representatives
Acting Director General Ms Sindisiwe Ngxongo, HODs, DDGs and Senior
Officials
Greetings to everyone who has joined this NCOP session on-line
House Chairperson, I would like to share with Honourable Members and the country at large, that in the continent we are seen to be pioneers and advanced in the Human Settlements space.
A case in point is the recent study visit by the Government of Uganda, led by the Minister of State for Housing, whose purpose was to conduct a benchmarking exercise to understand the role of the National Department of Human Settlements, in governing the Real Estate sector. Our Department and its entities played a critical role during the visit and will continue to engage with Uganda on these matters.
The Minister of State for Housing also seemed fascinated about the South African
District Development Model, and how it is implemented.
Honourable Members, the department took a decision last year, to make housing of destitute cases one of its priorities. In the Eastern Cape alone, we have made strides in this area since we took the District Development Model approach of engaging all spheres of government in finding solutions to fast-track the delivery of houses for destitute families.
Members might recall cases of destitute families which were brought to our attention last year through social media and community members of Bizana in the Eastern Cape. In the same year the Department completed and handed over houses to these destitute families, which included the elderly and persons with disabilities. We have handed over many other houses to destitute families in the past financial year.
There is excellent work that is being done in KwaZulu Natal, under the leadership of MEC, Dr Ntuthuko Mahlaba where BNG homes for destitute families are in different phases of construction and the project is due for completion at the end of August.
House Chairperson, during the build-up to the Presidential District Development Model Imbizo in Gauteng last year, together with MEC Lebohang Maile, we handed over four hundred title deeds to verified beneficiaries in Ratanda.
The Portfolio Committee has been consistent in monitoring the Department and has emphasized the need to deal with the current, pre- and post-apartheid backlog of title deeds. To show our commitment to this programme, Minister Kubayi has already established the Mabopane Winterveld Garankuwa (MAWIGA) Ministerial Project to expedite the title deeds rollout campaign.
Honourable Members, on the 15th of November last year, we attended a Military Veterans engagement in KwaZulu Natal with the Presidential Task Team (PTT) led by the former Deputy President. This was part of the provincial roadshows that the PTT had embarked on to engage with provinces.
This year in February, we convened a meeting in the Eastern Cape as the three spheres of Government and representatives of Military Veterans structures. In this meeting we agreed to hold follow-up engagements with the Department of Military Veterans to strategize on how we will resolve the challenges that were raised.
The Department of Human Settlements is committed to ensuring that all deserving military veterans are adequately housed and that the process is fast-tracked to ensure that these heroes and heroines receive the recognition that they deserve. Here we are talking about men and women who sacrificed their lives to fight for the freedom that we all enjoy today.
In the MinMec that took place in the Western Cape on Thursday last week, a number of resolutions were taken to ensure that our commitment of housing military veterans is fulfilled. Amongst the resolutions was that the two departments will embark on provincial roadshows to discuss all challenges that are currently hindering progress of this programme.
Honourable members, last year during the tabling of my policy debate speech, we committed that we would empower women in the human settlements value chain. We will demonstrate this during the Women in Construction Indaba which is planned for August this year.
The youth and persons with disabilities also remains our serious concern in terms of the gazetted set-asides which are 10% and 2% respectively on the total procurement spend.
Our sector transformation programme which aims to redress the set-asides includes the area of 40 percent procurement spend on entities owned by women contractors.
Some provinces have performed well on this, namely Mpumalanga, Limpopo, KwaZulu Natal and North-West. The province of Mpumalanga, led by MEC Speedy Mashilo is topping the chart.
Honourable Members, in my speech last year, I mentioned the one hundred and seven (107) women entrepreneurs who had completed a programme offered by the National Home Builders Regulatory Council (NHBRC) through the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS). I am happy to announce that in December, a further one hundred and five (105) women were issued completion certificates. We applaud this consistency through this NHBRC/GIBS partnership. This training programme is aimed at empowering women with business management skills to enable them to excel in their field of work.
As I conclude House Chairperson, we are always reminded by Minister Kubayi that our work as the Department of Human Settlements is of service to the people. It is also about changing lives of the indigent and restoring the dignity of our people. We cannot deliver on our own as the Department.
Our work requires everyone to play their part, from members of Parliament and the Legislature, housing developers, and our community at large. I therefore challenge everyone here today to partner with us.
As you perform your oversight roles Honourable Members, please be reminded that we share the responsibility, as the most vulnerable in our society seek shelter and expect service delivery from us as custodians of our constitution.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu once said, and I quote “My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.”
I thank you
