North West and Mpumalanga agree on housing delivery approach
The Department of Human Settlements in the North West and Mpumalanga have unanimously agreed that they should implement housing delivery as according to policy prescripts, despite little innovation in structure of houses being build. The two provincial departments agree on approach during the benchmarking session to share best practices in Mbombela recently.
The benchmarking programme was undertaken by the two provinces following advice by the National Department of Human Settlements on the delivery of military veterans’ houses. According the heads of both departments, James Mashigo and Hazel Zitha, they all construct the said houses as according to policy, however the only difference is the innovation in coming up with the final product, which is still within the housing quantum. Mashigo and Zitha hailed the move by both the departments as critically important and will further bring more innovation in service delivery.
“As the North West province we are highly impressed by what Mpumalanga is doing in consulting with military veterans’ beneficiaries on how they would want their houses to be like, but not moving away from policy prescripts. We build houses of the same size but with different features as agreed with beneficiaries. Our visit to Mpumalanga was a great eye opener for both provinces. We shared best practices and I think that we should continue to do the same going forward, said Mashigo.
Mashigo’s sentiments were also accord by Zitha, who also fully agreed that they should have common approach as they serve same beneficiaries, as guided by the same policy. “We welcome the move and the best practise we learned from the North West province. The session was critically important to us as a province. We need to ensure that, as both provinces are predominantly rural, we have a common understanding and approach in delivering services” said Zitha.
Both provinces further highlighted that they experience common challenges such as the construction of services such as sewerage system, especially the septic tanks, provision of Jojo tanks for water supply, and the negotiations between the beneficiary and the contractor on how the house should be like. Another common challenge is the continues questions of low cost houses constructed next to other houses in one yard. According to Mashigo, people should understand that in villages, families stay within one yard and parents would mostly like their children to remain next to them. Hence we find qualifying beneficiaries directing contractors to build their house in or close to their parent’s home.
Contact person: Director: Media and Communication, Dineo Lolokwane
Tel no: (018) 388 2081
Cell no: 072 542 8444
Email: dlolokwane@nwpg.gov.za
MEC’s Spokesperson: Mr Tsholofelo Mathibedi
082 933 0075/388 2884
Mathibeditsholofelo@gmail.com
