Q 106 (Mr A M Figlan)
(1) Whether he has taken any steps to deal with government houses that are falling apart in the Eastern Cape; if not, why not; if so, what steps?
Reply:
Yes indeed the Minister has taken action to address the problems of sub-standard construction work and related weaknesses in the Eastern Cape. The following represent some of the steps undertaken by the Minister.
(i) Having identified that weaknesses exist in the Eastern Cape housing programme, the Minister approached Cabinet to request authority to intervene in terms of Section 100 (1) (a) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. Cabinet approved the intervention on 16 April 2008 after which the Minister assembled a team of experts to assist the province. In addition to sub-standard houses, the other challenges included poor expenditure patterns, weak project management systems and blocked projects.
(ii) By the end of the 2008/09 financial year, the expenditure of the Eastern Cape Housing Department had improved from R375 million to R981 million – a 258% improvement.
(iii) In addition, more than 16 000 housing units had been completed and a few thousand more at different stages of construction
(iv) In respect to sub-standard ("falling apart") houses, the following steps have been taken:
* a process of identifying sub-standard houses was put in place
* progressively, such houses are subjected to engineering assessments to determine what corrective / rectification work is required
* appropriately qualified artisans and contractors are then employed to rectify the identified defects.
The eastern part of the province has been worst affected by this problem. We are glad to report that in the OR Tambo and Alfred Nzo districts work is well underway to rectify defective houses. This is in the areas of Mt Frere, Mt Aylif, Flagstaff and Matatiele.
In addition, the national home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC) has been requested to strengthen its on-the-ground capacity in the province. This has resulted in better results in aspects such as:
* inspection for quality assurance
* improved rate enrolment of projects.
Question (2): Whether he has taken any action against any (a) departmental official and (b) contractor regarding the poor quality of such houses; if not, why not; if so, what action?
Reply:
The Ministry takes any action by government officials that leads to the loss of value in the housing delivery chain very seriously. Some of the actions that we have taken include:
(i) Strengthening our partnership with the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) and taking action against identified offenders.
(ii) To date, a total of 772 officials have been charges. 554 of them have been convicted and millions of rand have been recovered from non- qualifying illegal beneficiaries.
(iii) Contractors identified for poor work are either charged or disqualified from registering as future service providers. In the OR Tambo and Alfred Nzo district, for example, charges were laid against contractors for corrupt and unethical acts.
Issued by: Department of Human Settlements
19 August 2009
