Madam Speaker
Honourable Deputy Speaker
Premier
Members of the Executive Council
Chief Whip
Deputy Chief Whip
Members of the House
Comrades and friends
We are presenting our budget vote during a month in which all South Africans in their different persuasions are advocating and bringing to the attention of decision makers the importance of gender equality. As we do so under conditions of a democracy we also do it in the memory of those who sacrificed their lives to lay the foundation for women to realise these freedoms. So, this month is also in the memory of Ray Alexander, Amina Cachalia, Dorothy Nyembe and the endless list of other heroines who followed on their footsteps.
Madam Speaker the ideals expressed in the freedom charter are pertinent to our business in local government and housing. More than fifty years ago our fore bears documented their desire that "there shall be houses, security and comfort, slums shall be demolished and new suburbs built where all have transport, roads, lighting, playing fields, crèches and social centres."
They further declared that "the people shall govern, that all bodies of minority rule, advisory boards, councils and authorities should be replaced by democratic organs of self government".
I deliberately bring to the fore these freedom charter sub clauses to demonstrate that our fore bears more than 50 years ago had already defined human settlements and local forms of government. Ours today is a continuation of a just course that our predecessors tirelessly fought for and we enjoin them in their vow that these freedoms, we will fight for side by side until we have won our liberty.
In pursuit of these ideals we in local government and housing are tasked in today's jargon, to establish human settlements charged with ensuring effective functioning of local government across the province. With our humble beginnings in 1994 from one administration to the next we sought to bring dignity to our people and to change their conditions for the better. We have thus far created 650 000 housing opportunities that gave shelter to an estimated 1,5 million people.
In the period starting 2009 to 2014 we will focus on expanding the frontier of sustainable human settlements. The hallmark of our housing programmes must be a locality where people can live, shop, school, pray and play. We have to deal with the challenge of how to best optimise the use of space available to the urban poor and unemployed in targeted areas, enabling these people to collectively determine and identify alternative local economic development trajectory that will be in line with their aspirations.
Our mandate is to coordinate and provide an effective, efficient and resourced Local government as we deliver the basic essential services to the people. It is also to effectively reduce informal dwellings found in and around Gauteng. We are charged with providing housing to more than 500 000 people who are in our demand data base.
We must build a developmental local government that is sustainable and able to provide essential basic services to communities. It is about building the peoples' trust in the state through trustworthy public representatives whose only preoccupation is the common good of the residents. An added challenge in an urban province like ours is the rapid population growth we are experiencing. We are by far the largest recipient of migration from Southern African Development African Countries (SADC) and in-migration from around our country. The impact of this is overcrowding, proliferation of informal settlements, the scramble for resources and putting unbearable pressure on the local system of government and our housing programmes.
The housing branch
Our approach in Gauteng is to ensure that the provision of Human Settlements is a catalyst in deracialising and integrating communities, whilst also dealing with the issues of poverty alleviation and job creation. Many poor people are still confined to residing on the urban fringes of cities and towns, which deprives them the socio-economic opportunities available in the urban areas, and perpetuates dysfunctional communities.
The promotion and implementation of spatial restructuring as a means of doing away with the old apartheid spatial patterns is central to the Breaking New Ground approach. Housing development in the province should no longer accommodate the location of communities at the periphery of economic nodes. Mixed income settlements are the way to go. The challenge here is that well located land is mostly in private hands and they are only willing to release it to the state at exorbitant amounts.
Breaking New Ground
Breaking New Ground is government's objectives to build sustainable human settlements. It is based on an inclusionary policy that affords people of different income groups to reside in same area and share whatever social and economic benefits that accrue to the area.
Through the Mixed Housing Development we are transforming the spatial patterns. We are doing away with apartheid spatial designs which created arid reserves for one group and plush suburbia for the other. Our flagship projects are Pennyville with 2 800 houses, Chief Albert Luthuli Ext 6 with 5 389 houses, Olievenhoutbosch Ext 36 with 4 452 houses, Thorntree View with 17 000 houses, Cosmo City with 14 800 houses and K206 in Alexandra with 3 199 houses.
We are also doing work to a total of 36 910 houses in Doornkop (Soweto), Kagiso (Chief Mogale municipality) and Middlevlei (Mohlakeng). An element that we will factor in as we lay out the different projects is that of utilising housing development to pursue the objectives of extended public work programme to create jobs, skills training and stimulate local economic development.
With the establishment of the Housing Development Agency we are now going to be able to facilitate land acquisition for housing development. The creation of this special agency will enable us to access land for housing development.
The department has already started a process of reviewing existing public land for acquisition, to develop a framework for low income housing. Our strategic approach is to realise a functioning property market across both economies and enable us to realise sustainable human settlements. We will intervene in the property markets to unlock private sector finance for low and middle-income housing.
Formalisation and eradication of informal settlements
Eradication of informal settlements is a millennium goal that South Africa committed itself to at the World Summit for Sustainable Development in 2002. Our province being the most affected by the sprawl of this phenomenon, it was clear from the onset that we are up against heavy odds.
The department's approach is that we proclaim on those existing settlements that are habitable as sites on which we will have housing programmes. Those settlements that are not habitable should be closed down and the affected people relocated. Lastly we should not allow further invasion of land by people.
We are progressing in terms of housing programmes in the proclaimed areas with resources being the main challenge. Our people continue to resist any attempt to move them from areas identified as inhabitable to elsewhere. We will nonetheless continue with this effort and couple it with public education as to why government will compel people to relocate elsewhere.
Besides being unlawful, continued invasion of land by groups of people works against government's best intentions. It also may put the lives of the invaders at risk because they do so without knowing the soil and topographic conditions of that piece of soil they are invading.
To this end we intend to work together with the local sphere of government in increasing our capacity to arrest such further invasion of land. We are also examining what further legal instruments could be put in place.
Progress to date
To date we registered 395 informal settlements to be eradicated. We now sit at 10 more with the reincorporation of Merafong back into Gauteng
* 96 settlements have already been proclaimed as suitable for housing
* 55 awaiting proclamation
* 12 informal settlements eradicated
* 24 in the process of being eradicated in this financial year.
To add some speed on this task, the department will bypass some of the procedures to allow fast tracking. We will implore municipalities to expedite planning and approval processes. Call on financial institutions to come to the party to supplement our funding stream. We will also indicate to treasury the financial and human resource we need to meet this 2014 millennium goal.
Turning hostels into family units
In 2004 government commissioned a study which we then called Structural Integrity Assessment to establish the state of hostels in the province. The study revealed that they were in a dilapidated state. From that study we identified immediate maintenance and repairs to be done like burst sewer lines, water leakages, non functional toilets, roof leakages and illegal connections.
Between 2004 and 2006, the department has spent over R48 million addressing the above mentioned issues identified as needing immediate attention. I must say Speaker that it is sad to report today that due to lack of property management some of those achievements have been reversed by people vandalising property. We have now agreed with respective municipalities to maintain hostels falling under their jurisdiction.
We are also seized with the long term programme aimed at ensuring the conversion of the old apartheid hostel precincts into community residential complexes. This will be done through the provision of affordable rental, and other tenure types to accommodate a wide variety of beneficiaries. Based on what people can afford, we will provide them with communal rental units, and RDP flats. For those wishing to stay for shorter periods of time we will provide transitional rental units.
There is a total of 60 old hostels in the province. Work is in progress to convert 13 into the different types of units I have referred to above. Lack of resources and the reality that beneficiaries in this category are of extremely low income or no income at all is an impediment.
Backyard upgrade
Overcrowding in the old townships, results in people erecting shacks in their backyards. During rainy, windy and cold seasons people are visited by bouts of tragedy due to the unsafe nature of these structures. The accumulated effect of these shacks in a township presents a shanty town and a severely depressed community.
In an attempt to address this problem, government has introduced a programme to build proper backyard structures or providing financial assistance to the landlord to build or upgrade backyard accommodation in line with the required standards. This programme is currently piloted in Orlando East Soweto and Boipatong. Based on lessons learnt, the department together with respective municipalities will now focus on rolling this out to other areas such as Zola, Mamelodi and Atteridgeville using alternative building technology methods.
Urban Renewal Programmes (URP)
This is a programme that is aimed at stimulating local economies and creating sustainable jobs in order to alleviate poverty and improve the quality of life of communities. The department is currently implementing Urban Regeneration Projects in Alexandra, Bekkersdal and Evaton. Government has agreed to add Winterveldt to the programme.
Our success in this programme depends more on the integrated approach by the different departments and the spheres of government. Through the Planning Commission in the in the Premier's office we believe we have an instrument that can enforce this approach and enable us to deliver better and faster in this programme.
We will focus more on infrastructure such as bulk services, roads, electricity, social amenities, housing, shopping and business precincts and the beautification of the locality.
Alexandra Renewal Project (ARP)
All projects in Alexandra planned for 2008/09 are in progress. There are currently 18 housing projects underway and construction of four new schools. A local Business Support Centre is completed and fully functional. It also provides support service to small and emerging businesses. A key challenge is the availability of well located land within the Greater Alexandra and surrounding areas.
Bekkersdal Renewal Project
Bekkersdal is an old community owing its roots from the mining activities in the area. To capture history correctly is that the white mining magnates of the time, exploited to community, invested nothing in the community, cashed in and left. What they left behind is a depressed community with no viable income.
Again relying on integrated approach across government departments and spheres of government we focus on infrastructure projects. Two clinics are complete and functional. A fully operational taxi rank completed. Work on the roads is in progress. We assisted the local municipality in putting together a waste management project.
We also opened a local economic development centre to train locals so that they are able to take up jobs required as the project continues. About 18 000 people are residing on a dolomitic surface which is prone to sinking. For land portions were identified and housing programme is in progress to relocate the affected families.
Evaton renewal project
The Evaton renewal programme has taken off albeit with some problems that will ultimately delay its delivery rate. In order to succeed in this programme the first thing we must get right is road, storm water drainage and the sewer infrastructure. That is the main reason why we entered into a contract with a certain Bahlodi Construction Consortium. Contrary to popular view that they were to lay out the top structure, they were supposed help service the land in preparation for a housing programme.
It is on these grounds that through our monitoring mechanism were able to detect that the said consortium was not meeting its contractual obligations. Believing that a repeated attempt to correct the situation was not bearing any fruit we came to the conclusion that it is in our best interest to terminate the contract.
It is now public knowledge that we have instituted a forensic audit on the work of the consortium with intention to legal recourse and financial recovery. We expect the results of the audit by the last day of this month. Be that as it may through the programme we managed to complete a waste management project which is up and running. A brick making plant is under construction. A hall attached to a local high school which also services the community was concluded.
Twenty prioritisedtTownships
Twenty PTP is an intergovernmental programme involving both the provincial and local governments. It is aimed at the rehabilitation of the existing social and economic amenities for the 20 oldest and previously marginalised townships in the province. The overall intention is to lift the face and look of these localities, by making them more habitable so that people can enjoy living there with dignity and pride.
The programme must fix old age bulk infrastructure in these townships. Repair the sewer, storm water drainage and home water taps and do new installations where there are none. Restore electricity where it is damaged and install where there is none. Mend roads where they are damaged, grade and tar unserviced ones. Put up parks for people to play and relax. Set up business precincts to encourage local economic activity. Repair and put up schools and other social amenities such as churches, ECD sites, libraries, you name them.
This project is big, ambitious and long term. But the successful implementation is a redress of our sad past, restoration of dignity and happiness to communities that were denied this simply on the basis of the colour of their skin. Part of the ambition is to tar all the roads in these townships which cover a distance of 3 022 kilometres. To date we have done 812 kilometres which is just under a third of that distance. A whopping R4,6 billion rand has been spent in 487 projects undertaken by different departments and spheres of government. Just under 10 000 people were employed in these projects.
In response to the premier's call to municipalities and department to pledge more to this programme, it is pleasing to say that we have seen a commitment that may well surpass the present spending on this programme. We have also engaged our private sector partners who have also made an assurance to raise about R3 billion for roads and storm water infrastructure and other related projects with 20PTP.
The Local Government Branch
Operation Clean Audit by 2010
Of the 15 municipalities that we have in Gauteng only six received unqualified audit opinions. Whilst there is a national target of achieving clean audits by 2014 we in the province wish to achieve this much earlier. Working together with the South African Chartered Accountants and the municipalities we are striving to:
* improve the functionality of audit committees and oversight committees in municipalities
* rolling out the implementation of and Section 79 Committees in other municipalities
* strengthening the functionality of the Municipal Public Accounts Committees
* implementing IT solutions in municipalities to support systems such as document management systems which is critical for audit purposes.
Collection of municipal debt and revenue enhancement
One of the challenges facing municipalities is uncollected debt. The current municipal debt is sitting at R22 billion. We want to reduce consumer debt by the year 2014, Improve the integrity of all municipalities' billing systems. We will implement the Debt Structuring Model which will position our municipalities better to collect debts by 2011 and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Despite of the service delivery backlogs we may have, we are proud that we have achieved the 2007 eradication of all identified bucket systems. We also met the target of universal access to water by 2008. By 2010 and 2012 we expect to meet the sanitation and electricity targets respectively. We are in the process of completing the sanitation master plans per municipality to ensure that we achieve the targets. Working with the Electricity Distribution Industry, we will ensure that all the three REDs in Gauteng are anchored in the Metros. Municipalities within the province are in the process of completing the ring fencing of their electricity functions.
Development of the provincial-wide energy strategy
The department is finalising the Gauteng Integrated Energy Strategy to address electricity shortage and explore alternative sources of energy. We will implement energy efficiency projects with focus on government buildings and housing developments and alternative energy sources such as solar and wind energy. The initiative was born out of the Energy Exhibition we hosted in June last year following load-shedding by Eskom.
Community Development Workers (CDWs)
CDWs are a vital link between government and the ordinary people at ward level. Like a councillor and ward committees these are institutional organs of the state that help enhance participatory democracy.
It is therefore necessary that we continually assess the effectiveness, location and accounting lines for such structures. We are presently undertaking a study of how best to enhance the efficiency of the CDWs. How in relation the different spheres of government can we best situate them in order to optimise their potential. How do we ensure that finding and recommendation at ward level are taken up by the different organs of government?
Ward meetings
We believe that ward meeting should not be left to take place by chance or to depend on whether the local councillor convenes them or not. These are necessary meetings that give participatory democracy direct meaning at the local level.
We will strive together with municipalities that a calendar of these meetings is developed at each municipal level. These meetings must be predictable. The ward councillor must be capacitated and resourced to communicate such meetings to residents, to be able to book good venues with proper sitting arrangements and sound.
Service delivery protest
Let me put into perspective the so called service delivery protests in our province. Firstly I can say without fear of contradiction that these actions are not as pervasive in our province as the media portrays them to be. The fact is in a province of over 400 wards these have occurred in less than ten wards.
Where they occurred the dominant factor is internal strife of different groups in those communities which leads to all sorts of misinformation to local residents.
Where there are genuine service delivery problems the government has plans how to address them in the short, medium and long term. We do however recognise the fact that these occur in communities that are depressed, who for long periods have waited for one sort of delivery service or the other. We are alive to the fact that government must gather speed in delivery lest our people lose the patience to wait.
We are also working on strengthening the quality of our communication and consultation in communities where people have been promised any sort of delivery, so that no person or group can misinform them for their own ends.
Disaster Management
We continue to build on the province's capacity to respond to any form of disaster, be it natural, technological or caused by people. Our monitoring and response capability is coordinated from a state of the art facility in Midrand.
This facility is the "voice of government" during an emergency or disaster. It exists to protect the general population, to protect property and to provide the capability for government to early warning, to direct, to control and return situations to normal.
Metro System of Local Government
In the past few years government has been seized with the concept of the Metro System of local government. This discussion was inspired by the desire to provide our province with a system of local government to best deliver services to its people. We hold the opinion that the two tier system of district municipality and local municipality referred to as "B" and "C" categories are not adequate for effective and efficient service delivery. This led to us examining a Gauteng that is organised differently as opposed to the two tier system of local government.
By directive of the Premier we will table a full proposal to government by no later than end of October this year. If accepted it will be released to the legislature for further discussion. We should also be mindful of the fact that the Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB) has recommended that the district of Metsweding and its local municipalities be de-established and extend the boundaries of Tshwane to include Metsweding. We are now at the consultation phase with the affected communities.
The 2011 Local Government Elections
Tied to this demarcation issue are the time lines for the preparations for the 2011 local government elections. The Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs has issued a proclamation stating the formula for determining the number of councillors per municipality. The MEC for local government and Housing in Gauteng must in turn issue a proclamation stating the number of councillors in each municipality in the province and publish it for public comment.
Nokeng tsa Taemane Local Municipality
After repeated efforts over a period of years assisting the local municipality of Nokeng tsa Taemane we finally came to the conclusion that the municipality is incapable of proper financial management. Provincial government then decided to invoke part of section 139 of the constitution that allows provincial government to intervene and take over the municipal finances. A team from national treasury and the province is now tasked with a recovery plan for the municipality Merafong.
With Merafong now reincorporated back into Gauteng and as part of our West Rand district we now have an added responsibility. We are now going through the phase of hand over from North West province. Through a Protocol Agreement between the two Premiers of Gauteng and North West provinces, the different sector departments are signing service level agreements that will govern the hand over.
Between now and the next financial year the North West province will continue to service Merafong on an agency basis because they still control the budget that goes with all those functions. But in the mean time we went an extra mile by putting up a team to assess the interventions we can do.
We are also mindful that agreements and structures alone will not assist the community of Merafong. This is a community that was in conflict with itself and this resulted in loss of property and life. Some had to find refuge outside the area for fear of their lives. We need healing so that the community is at peace with itself. Together with the community leaders, religious leaders and all other relevant bodies will engage in this healing exercise.
Municipal Support
With the support of the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) we will continue working with South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) and South African Institute of Civil Engineering (SAICE) in deploying accountants and engineers in municipalities. This is part of bringing the requisite skills and capacity to municipalities, to assist in the area of financial management and infrastructure development. Part of this effort is to transfer the necessary skills and knowledge, and to mentor municipal officials. In partnership with Accounting Artisan's Training (AAT) we will also continue to train municipal officials on basic financial management.
Integrated Development Planning
To realise a shared vision of transforming Gauteng into a global competitive city region which is able to create decent work and sustainable livelihoods for its citizens, we need to strengthen integrated planning and inter-governmental relations. Inter-governmental relations should be about intergovernmental planning, priority setting, resource mobilization, allocation and implementation. We need to streamline various funding streams for example Municipal Infrastructure Grant, Housing Fund, water sector funding from Water Affairs, electricity funding from Eskom. This will help us to channel development and service in the same direction and in an integrated manner.
We also need to work hand in hand with the Planning Commission and use it as a platform for integrated planning.
Enforcement of by laws
The absence of adequate by law enforcement at municipality level breeds a culture of non compliance by citizens, and this in turn breeds lawlessness among people.
Madam speaker, I think all of local government is seriously challenged on issues of by law enforcement. While in some instances it is the absence of the necessary by laws to regulate the conduct of people in the affected municipality it is at other instances the inability to enforce the existing ones.
These speak to issues of capacity in terms human and capital resources. The legal expertise to prosecute, the policing capacity and the absence of local municipal courts is a big challenge.
Together with the various municipalities in the province we will strive towards building capacity in this area and thus create a better and safer Gauteng.
Source: Department of Housing, Gauteng Provincial Government
