Premier of the Western Cape, Helen Zille
MEC for Human Settlements, Bonginkosi Madikizela
Councillors from the City of Cape Town and the rest of the world
International Guests
Financial institutions and manufacturers,
Representatives from NGOs,
Ladies and gentlemen,
All protocol observed.
I wish to thank the South African Housing Foundation for the invitation to address this International Conference. It is heartening to notice that this conference is held annually and that it is attended by both local and international delegates and speakers.
As the Department of Human Settlements, we are proud to be associated with the South African Housing Foundation in its effort to bring practitioners and policy makers in the sector together. It is for that reason that we have, over the past five years, ensured that we participate and partner with you at these annual international conferences.
We believe that this partnership with government should not only aim at driving dialogue on the South African Human Settlements agenda. It should come up with innovative solutions to our many challenges.
I therefore wish to encourage delegates participating at this conference to look for fresh solutions to a better South Africa which we will all be proud of.
It is through dialogues and conversations such as these that solutions to complex problems such as the ones facing our country that sustainable and permanent solutions can be found. While we pride ourselves on the achievements this government has made over the past 18 years, we are not blind to the numerous challenges besetting our country.
We have on several occasions stated that on our own as government, we will never achieve the high levels of service delivery we aim to achieve, hence our conviction that “together we can do more”.
Since the introduction of housing policy and programmes, more than 3 million houses and stands have been delivered, benefiting a population of more than 15 million people.
Despite the scale of delivery, 12 million poor South Africans are still without formal houses and the demand remains high. Currently, the housing demand is still estimated at 2.1 million housing units.
This problem is perpetuated by the continuous increase of urban population due to urbanisation and population growth adding pressure on the need for accommodation in cities, particularly the City of Cape Town.
Fiscal constraints and other challenges such as the capacity to deliver means that delivery is contained at about 220,000 houses per annum, at an estimated budget of R21 billion. This means that at the current rate of delivery, it will take about a decade to settle the current backlogs.
Adequate capacity in the human settlement sector is one of the critical success factors for the government to ensure the delivery of sustainable human settlements.
The supply of the relevant capacities in terms of technical skills is far less than the demand, and government has to compete for these scarce skills with other institutions in the sector.
Government is committed to ensure that there is appropriate and sufficient capacity in the sector for the development of human settlements. We have come up with a diverse yet integrated capacity development programme that addresses individual, institutional and environmental capacity challenges.
Over and above the training interventions for officials, which you will hear of tomorrow, we have also introduced a Scholarship programme that serves as an intervention to secure the scarce skills needed by the sector.
This programme was introduced with a view to expand the skills base of the sector by giving an opportunity to matriculants coming from previously disadvantaged communities by giving them an award to study at any university of their choice in the country.
The fields of studies funded by this programme include, amongst others, Civil Engineering, Quantity Surveyors, Architecture, Town and Regional Planner, Construction science, Property Economics and other human settlements related fields.
To date more than 260 students have benefited from this programme and the number has tremendously increased and we will gradually increase it to ensure that all qualifying students are reached.
The Department is also collaborating with the Nelson Mandela Metro University where a new professional four year degree, the Bachelor of Human Settlements Development will start being offered from January 2014. This degree will prepare students to fulfill this much needed professional role of managing and maintaining human settlements for a sustainable future.
The Universities of South Africa and Fort Hare, which also work with our Department, are also in the process of applying for accreditation from the Department of Higher Education for their proposed Human Settlements qualification.
The World Bank Institute will be sharing some of their international best practice in Human Settlements with various institutions of Higher Learning for short learning programmes which will assist with continued professional development for human settlements officials in the sector.
We believe that these efforts support the Human Settlements Sector professionalisation programme that is spearheaded by the Department.
As the Department, we also believe that it is essential that citizens, especially the poor and vulnerable, have access to information and opportunities to participate in decision-making at all levels, from national policy development down to local project planning.
This can only take place through active and ongoing community participation and involvement that fosters a sense of responsibility, commitment and ownership.
Beneficiary communities must be involved in key stages of the planning and implementation of housing projects, as they will be the ultimate users of the products.
Socio-economic and cultural issues unique to a human settlements project must be carefully considered in conjunction with considerations for environmental sustainability.
Professionals, government officials and even community representatives must respond to community needs. Furthermore, for human settlements to be sustainable, it must contribute to the physical and psychological well-being of the inhabitants, and promote a sense of community and safety.
It is for that reason that the Department, in partnership with provincial departments and municipalities, spearheads a community development and councilor training programme whose attempt is to close the information gap.
We therefore appeal to all of us who are here to work towards meeting the many developmental and service delivery goals within our country. I would also like to remind you of the Human Settlements’ Each one Settle One campaign. This campaign calls on individual South Africans and companies/organisations across the globe to support fellow citizens with respect to the provision of shelter. Crucial to this vision is the need to pull together resources thereby setting up a funding mechanism that will respond to this call.
In collaboration with government, individual South Africans or multinational companies and donor organisations are invited to partake and support government in this life changing campaign.
We invite you to match the Department of Human Settlement housing unit subsidy quantum for a 42 SQM house or make a contribution towards building a settlement.
There are various ways in which you can be involved in this campaign. For more information you can call or write to the Ministry of Human Settlements.
A week ago, I led a South African delegation at the World Urban Forum in Naples- Italy. We had a successful participation as a country, from content to a vibrant exhibition corner.
We will be taking forward some of the key interventions emerging out of World Urban Forum (WUF). On UN Habitat Day, we will launch our National Human Settlements Forum.
I wish the conference organisers, participants and exhibitors a successful three days of fruitful interaction which would be to the benefit of human settlements development not only in South Africa, but to the international community.
I thank you
