Keynote address by the Minister of Human Settlements at the Second Local Government Residential Property Summit held at Focus Rooms, Modderfontein, Johannesburg
Programme Director,
President of SALGA, Cllr Bheki Stofile SALGA Leadership,
MEC for Human Settlements in Gauteng, Tasneem Motara Executive Mayor of CoJ, Cllr Dada Morero Representatives of Local Government,
International Guests Private Sector Partners, Financial Institutions, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good morning,
I am deeply honoured and privileged to address this important platform, which brings together key stakeholders across government, industry, and finance to collectively confront one of the most pressing challenges of our time, housing delivery at scale. South Africa continues to face a housing backlog of approximately 2.6 million units, affecting over 12 million people. This reality affirms a simple but critical truth:
The State cannot address this challenge alone. Delivery at scale requires structured and sustained partnership with the private sector and other industry role players.
We notably operating within a complex and evolving environment characterised by rapid urbanisation; rising construction costs; infrastructure constraints and increasing climate-related risks.
Current projections from the United Nations and other international organizations confirm that approximately 68% to 70%of the global population will live in urban areas by the year 2050, a disproportionate amount of this populationwill be concentrated in Asia and Africa.
We can anticipate that the City of Johannesburg as the premier commercial hub and gateway to Africa will automatically be affected by these projections.
At the same time, our constitutional mandate remains instructively clear that we must progressively realise access to adequate housing. The question before us is not whether we deliver, but how we deliver differently, more efficiently, and at scale.
This Summit is therefore timely and necessary. It creates space for alignment across spheres of government; critical engagement with private sector developers and financiers, and exploration of innovative public–private partnerships.
Therefore, the opportunity before us is to move beyond dialogue towards practical, scalable delivery solutions that respond to the housing backlog.
The 2024 White Paper on Human Settlements provides a clear policy foundation for this seismic shift. It reinforces the role of the private sector as a key delivery partner, the need for diversified housing delivery models and a transition towards integrated and spatially just human settlements.
This requires a move towards programme-based implementation, outcome-driven planning, and stronger intergovernmental coordination.
Transformation remains central to the sector. We have made significant progress in expanding participation of women in construction, supporting youth and emerging contractors in the built environment through our transformation and empowerment policies, and leveraging procurement to advance inclusion in the economy through participation.
However, the task ahead is to ensure that transformation is systemic, sustainable, and embedded across the value chain. Most importantly it must be impactful in improving the quality of lives of the historically marginalised.
Ladies and gentlemen, the recent IBT Summit held in February in NASREC
marked a turning point for the sector. The Summit confirmed that IBTs are no longer experimental. They are a strategic necessity for delivering durable housing at the required scale, speed, and quality.
The most significant outcome was a clear shift:
- From pilots → mainstreaming
- From fragmentation → system reform
- From policy intent → implementation
Key outcomes from the Summit include regulatory alignment across NHBRC, Agrément SA and SANS, commitment to ring-fenced funding (minimum 2%) through our HSDG, strong focus on industrialisation and localisation, and integration of IBTs into climate-resilient delivery models.
Critically, the Summit established a clear implementation architecture, including comprising of a multi-stakeholder implementation forum, a Programme Management Office within the Department and most importantly, structured monitoring and reporting mechanisms.
Our collective responsibility now is to ensure that these outcomes translate into delivery on the ground.
Scaling delivery requires a responsive financing ecosystem. We are therefore working towards ensuring certified IBT housing qualifies for financing and insurance; strengthening partnerships with financial institutions; Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) and investors.
Predictable demand, supported by aligned funding mechanisms, will be essential to unlocking scale.
This Summit must move beyond engagement to implementation. It must result in projects that are bankable, partnerships that are structured with clear delivery pipelines.
We must move collectively from dialogue to delivery, from planning to implementation.
Ladies and gentlemen,
We stand at a pivotal moment for the human settlements sector. The convergence of policy reform, technological innovation, private sector capability and local government leadership is indispensable in providing lasting solutions the property sector challenges.
If we succeed, we will not only address the housing backlog, but we will also drive economic growth, create jobs, and build inclusive and sustainable communities.
Let us therefore act with urgency, purpose, and collective resolve.
The time for incremental change has passed. The time for scaled, coordinated implementation is now.
I thank you.
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