The Portfolio Committee on Housing held Izimbizo in the Eastern Cape Province from 04-07 August 2003. The Committee had an opportunity to interact with the MEC of Housing, Local Government and the Traditional leader, Mr Gugile Nkwinti: MEC, members of the standing Committee on Housing in the Provincial Legislature, officials from the Provincial Department of Housing, Councillors, beneficiaries, Contractors, Builders and other relevant stakeholders.

The delegation included Ms Z Kota (Chairperson) and leader of the delegation; Mr C Mabena (ANC), Mr G Schneenman (ANC), Ms J Semple (DA), Ms MN Oliphant (ANC), Mrs MM Ramakaba-Lesiea (ANC), Mrs Cl Ludwabe (ANC), Mr J Nash (ANC), Ms K Pasiya (Acting Committee Secretary); Mr S Makeleni

(Committee Assistant) and Ms E Scholtz (Secretary to the Chairperson-PC on Housing.

• To assess the pace of housing delivery

• To assess the provision of basic infrastructure

• To check the adherence of contractors to norms and standards

• To assess the quality of housing units provided

• To check whether the Peoples Housing Process has been able to take-off, if not, why not.

• Whether the Municipalities have the Integrated Development Plan (IDP).

• To assess the participation of emerging contractors in the housing delivery process, including women contractors, and

• Look at the constraints experienced by the province and municipalities in the housing delivery process

4.1.1 Raloti Disaster Area

The disaster in Raloti was caused by veld fires. It had affected 235 families and were left homeless. There are 102 units that have been completed by Umzimkhulu Municipality. The Peoples Housing Process (beneficiaries) and Thomar Construction, a building contractor, had rebuilt the houses. The size of the houses are 40m² with two bedrooms and a lounge or dinning room. Each costs around R14 750, including toilets and R7 300 is still in Bisho for infrastructure. They have VIP toilets. The constructor is registered with National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC), and the houses are covered for five years.

There is no infrastructure in place and residents depend on rivers and spring water, which they have to queue for. The youth is also involved, including young girls who are bricklayers and painters.

The beneficiaries appreciated the houses and they said the municipality came to their rescue in time. Their challenge is running water. The Municipality has introduced fire belts to stop and prevent future veld fires.

a. The Municipality must build showers and drains must be in place.

b. That bore holes for water would be necessary as they have electricity.

There are 507 approved subsidies, and 300 houses are completed and others were still under construction. Beneficiaries are people living around the villages. Local builders were building houses for the community, and the project was called "people's housing process". They decided on the structure of houses to be built and others put more money for bigger houses. In December 2003, these houses will be officially handed over to their owners.

The first houses to be built were partitioned. The new ones are not and people do not have money to partition. Material got lost and although securities officers were employed to look after the material. There is also a problem of vandalism. The money for builders was decreased from the original amount and they were frustrated. There are no door steps for elderlies. Wooden doors get rotten much quicker because of cheap material used. Houses built were of poor quality.

1. It is important to investigate the reasons as to why the new houses were not partitioned.

2. The problem of vandalism has to be addressed by the Councillor and the community. The municipality must facilitate this process.

3. Financial management of this project need to be looked at. As the poor quality of material used leads to government money being wasted.

4. The MEC must make a follow-up on this matter of vandalism.

There is a building contractor in that project and they were given P8 000 to build each house, and it was not enough. The houses are 40m² and the project was not yet complete. Local builders were building for the community. The yard size is 300m².

The doors and windows are without lentels and the houses were leaking. There are cracks on the walls and on the corners of the houses. The doors are cracking despite having been approved by the SA Bureau of Standards (SABS). When they were cut they would break and shift. Windows are too weak due to the use of cheap soft material.

1. The province should assist the municipality with capacity building on projects. Monitoring by the Department on projects is essential.

2. It is important to note that if there is a big problem if SABS approves houses which are built from cheap material. This needs a follow-up by the Department.

Executive Mayor Bheki Dzanibe chaired the meeting and welcomed all present.

The public and the municipality raised issues that caused delays in housing delivery, such as:

( i) the distribution of funds by the Provincial Department of Housing to the municipality

(ii) delays in the land claim processes,

(iii) land owned by Chiefs makes it difficult to build houses.

The community complained about lack of infrastructure. People from rural areas needed houses to be built in their sites or communal land. Residents from Clysdale have been requesting a community farm since 1992, and the title deeds have not been issued. The Communal Land Bill was raised as it could resolve the issue of rural land. Teachers and policemen, who do not qualify for low cost houses were alleged to have bought land or houses from the disadvantaged people for business.

Residents from Rietvlei, claimed that there was a village that used to belong to coloured people who left a long time ago, which needs to be given to those people who reside in it and also be given title deeds for ownership.

1. The Provincial Department of Housing should look at the problem of the distribution of funds as they don't have the same financial year as the municipalities.

2. The delays on land claims need to be looked at by the province.

3. The Chiefs need to work closely with their municipalities as they need their communities to have houses.

4. Ward Councillors are to assist the community of Clysdale in their applications for subsidy. There are 900 sites and people are to receive title deeds as the government has purchased land on their behalf.

5. The Municipality must hold meetings with Chiefs and brief them on issues regarding houses.

6. The Provincial Department must monitor these processes.

It was a low income housing project with 700 approved subsidies. The size of the unit were 36,6m² and were later approved and became a 40m². There are 15 completed slabs and the building teams is constituted by beneficiaries. Local suppliers are used for material procurement. The support centre is used as a storage for material and after the completion of the project, it will be converted into a social community hall.

An elderly person expressed her frustration about her house which was left incomplete and she was told to complete it herself as it was too big. She said this was a problem as she did not have a proper job.

There are problems with consistent supply of building material. Payment of builders was often delayed due to cash flow problems on projects. The process of accessing funds was frustrating. Non payment of workers in building resulted in low morale and deteriorated progress. Installation of civil works by consultant has been prolonged due to applications that took more than a year to be processed.

The Project Manager appointed to assist at the Umzimvubu Municipality is stationed in East London whilst the projects are in Umzimvubu and when he is needed to intervene, he is not available.

1 The house of the beneficiary which was let incomplete must be completed as soon as possible.

2. The responsibility of the municipality and the Department of Housing was to give consumer education. The fact that the size of the housing unit is bigger, that should not be an excuse resulting not to give shelter to the poorest of the poor. Measures must be taken to ensure that this most vulnerable person has shelter.

3. The Committee recommended that province should look at projects as housing unit seem not to adhere to norms and standards.

4. Clarity needs t& be given as there is no clear housing centre, but as per PHP require only storage is in place.

5. The community seemed to be in a state of despair as many houses are incomplete. Municipality as developer must take charge of projects and account for this state of affairs.

6. The buck stops with the province.

7. The project needs a Project Manager that is stationed in Umzimvubu.

8. The Committee needs to be updated and a report needs to e made in terms of the unbuilt houses.

Mayor Munyu chaired the meeting.

The funds of projects that were already approved and had been transferred to Umzimkhulu Municipality's account were not utilized. The land claim process had delayed the housing delivery in almost all the projects in Umzimvubu. Some of the land belongs to residence, the others to Inkosi and the land claim office in Bisho is dragging to transfer the land to its rightful owners, viz: the residents and Amakhosi. Public servants used to buy land from the poor for business purposes and that has become an on-going habit. The community raised a concern about the closing down of offices in Kokstad and they requested that staff members from Kokstad be transferred to Umzimvubu Municipality because of their experience in dealing with housing issues. The Chairperson raised the issue of Kokstad staff, who were sent back to Bisho because their offices in Kokstad were closing down. The Chairperson said the community requested that those staff members could help out in the municipal offices as they had experience in housing issues. The MEC said the municipality would have to apply for staff from the Kokstad offices. People needed houses in their own sites and not to be moved to town in order to get houses.

The absentee project manager is a problem to this community. It delays the housing delivery and the Department must rectify it.

Officials from the Department of Housing and officials at the municipality level need to meet and strategize on the funding issue. The issue of land invasion by public servants is criminal and it needs to be addressed.

This is a project that was approved at Mphemba ward 11 with 1000 subsidies. The Department of Housing, Local Government and the Traditional Leaders are to see to it that the project resumes immediately. Other villages have submitted a list of potential beneficiaries. The project is not yet off the ground.

The department and municipality must account why the project is not off the ground if 1 000 subsidies have been approved. We recommend that the community be involved in this housing project. Good relationship be established between the chiefs and the community. PHP process is the proper mechanism to build houses in such an area.

Duncan Village Hostel B was built in 1960. It is owned by the East London City Council. It was originally a single person hostel and accommodated 752 units. It used to be well managed and rentals were charged and paid for by the residents.

The buildings were destroyed by fire during unrest in 1985 and many residence refrained from paying rentals and the building standard deteriorated. Various attempts were made to upgrade the hostel between 1991 and 1994, and progress was only made in 1995 when hostel a re-development program was successfully implemented.

The planning and construction of the B hostel project was a fully consultative process where all the role-players made valuable contributions. Hostel residents were workshopped on the formation of housing association. It was later decided that the B hostel should function as a municipal rental stock and the housing association be considered at a later stage.

An amount of R8 million was received from various sources such as Amatola District Council, Duncan Village Presidential Project, PHDB and the East London TLC. An amount of R610 000 was also received from charity in Netherlands, and the hostel was upgraded up to 302 family units and 96 single.

There is an illegal occupation of units, people who have absconded allocated people into their units. This made it difficult for Buffalo City Municipality to allocate people who were on the waiting list for accommodation. An informal settlement has mushroomed in the vicinity of Hostel B . There is an illegal connection of electricity. Houses are leaking during rainy days. The houses do not have steps. There are no lentels on doors and windows and the walls are cracking.

1. The Buffalo Municipality must follow up this matter and ensure that the law takes its course.

2. Building of these houses do not conform to prescribed norms and standards - the Department ha a responsibility to send inspectors to evaluate these houses.

The Haven Hills project was developed by the Van der Leij Habitat Foundation. It was identified by Buffalo City municipality as a Pilot Village to demonstrate an integrated and sustainable urban living environment with a range of higher-density housing options as an alternative to the traditional low-density urban sprawl.

The project has approved 556 units, including 132 project-linked to low cost units. It has 354 rentals apartment and 70 credit-link plot-and-plan dwellings. The project allows for the demonstration of different types of houses and ownership options while providing a balance between affordability, sustainability and quality.

The first project of Own Haven Housing Association, namely the construction of 318 two-and three-storey walk up units as the rental component of Haven Hills South, commenced in September 2002. It was awarded tender to the amount of R28 million to Grinaker-LTA, a national construction company. Own Haven Housing Association were to own and manage these rental units to ensure their sustainability.

The development of Haven Hills South has progressed well, with the first tenants of the rental units taking occupation on 15 March 2003. It is anticipated that all units will be completed and occupied by mid-August 2003. There is a prepaid Water and electricity system.

This development consists of 196 services sites and houses within 8 housing Corporatives. The project is being implemented via the PHP with Buffalo City Municipality as Support Organizer.

The key role player of the project is the East London Housing and Management Co-operative (ELHMC), which is a local organization. The ELHMC is supported by Afesis Corplan, a local NGO promoting co-operatives through the Swedish Funding.

The project utilizes institutional subsidy of R20 300-00 per beneficiary plus a 15% variants. Individual beneficiaries also contribute approximately R2500-00 each which is jointly saved through the East London Credit and Savings co-operative.

The properties will be communally owned by the members (beneficiaries) of the 8 co-operatives. The internal services within the co-operatives will also be owned and maintained by the co-operatives. After 4 years members will then have an option of individual ownership.

The total of the budget of the project is approximately R4,6 million and the project is expected to be completed in February 2004. The typical house size is 45m² with the concrete tile roof.

The main challenge experienced in this project is insufficient capacity of emerging Contractors.

The project is in the first phase of development at the Mdantsane-Bufferstrip, which consists of approximately 2000 informal houses on the fringe of Mdantsane. The Chris Hani Project entails the development of 302 serviced sites and houses via the People Housing Processes. Buffalo City Municipality (BCM) is the Support Organizer of this community development project.

A partnership agreement exists between BCM and the Chris Hani Community Development Trust, which is the beneficiary representation body. The project budget is around R7.2 million and houses vary from 40 to 51m² in size. The service installation stage has been completed and houses are expected to be completed by September 2003. The contractors were made of local builders and emerging contractors.

Material price escalation versus the project implementation period. There was communication breakdown between the municipality and the community which led to community conflicts. There is insufficient capacity of key role players at Buffalo City Municipality, Chris Hani Community Development Trust and appointed a project co-coordinator. There were no lentels on the windows and doors, and this resulted in cracks.

1. The province must ensure the adherence to norms and standards. Any housing defect is an attack on housing policy which stresses the importance of quality housing units.

2. The Department has to monitor this project continuously.

3. The municipality must avail people who have the ability to assist this project.

7.5 Berlin - Lingelitsha

Berlin consisted of conventional housing project of 411 houses. Housing construction started in February 2002 and was completed in May 2003. Buffalo City Municipality was the developer of this project. Houses are 40m² in size, and they were built on R16 000 subsidy band. Estimated project amounted to R6 500 000.

Five of the beneficiaries could not be found for occupation of their houses. Properties have already been registered in their names. The houses are not partitioned.

1. If these beneficiaries are not found, houses should be given to other beneficiaries after a thorough investigation and public engagement.

2. The Committee wants to be kept abreast of developments taken by the MEC in this regard.

It was awarded two projects by the Department of Housing the first being for 420, and the second for 2047 subsidies. The first project 420 subsidies allowed for the development of established vacant serviced sites to be developed which had been blocked for various reason including banks" red lining" and finance.

The second project 2047 subsidies allowed for more affordable units. Each unit has a maximum of 2 bedrooms, bathroom, kitchenette and a lounge. Specifications were reduced to exclude plastered walls and internal painting.

The basic rentals of the units range from at P360 to P450 per month, excluding insurances and municipal charges.

7.6.1 The 42 houses need to be unblocked. The MEC should follow up this matter as a matter of urgency.

King William's Town Housing Association pursued the rent-to-own options which allowed tenants to purchase their units over a twelve-year term. It provided a full service in terms of the Social Housing concept by facilitating true Home Ownership. It developed a beneficiary equity which is not only facilitated by rental schemes.

The escalation of costs of the house in the second project started by eliminating salary of R1 500 per month and later pushed up the entry level to above R2 000 per month.

The Committee recommends that the MEC meets with the suppliers to establish a good working relationship with them.

Phases 1 and 2 were completed, with 1600 units.

This is a green fields for 620 subsidies at which 550 units will be developed. The contract for the provision of a full level of services was awarded in June 2003 and is due for completion by January 2004. The project will be converted to the Peoples Housing Process for the construction of the top structures.

House construction is expected to commence early in 2004 and is to be completed by the end of 2004. The current approved budget of R16 000 with 15% top-up is expected to increase to the new subsidy value of R23 100.00 giving a total budget of R 14 740 000.00.

1) The province or the municipality must clarify as to who the authentic contractors of this project are.

(2) There is a need to explain what is meant by the PHP process. There is a lot of confusion about this in the province.

The MEC admitted that there is underspending. They spent R20 Million in July 2003 and later the amount dropped gradually. The MEC and the Mayor were going to meet and discuss this mailer.

With regard to the support centres, the MEC said that there is a number of centres to monitor, to keep records and to administer projects. There was lack of capacity or quality control as they have employed only one Civil Engineer in each region.

In the Eastern side of the Eastern Cape, there was no Civil Engineer at all and it has a conceptual problem. The Department of Housing, in consultation with Daimler Chrysler is offering bursaries and grants to students who wish to study municipal studies and engineering at Rhodes University.

The energy efficiency project is not common as it was once introduced in a pilot project but it is no longer in use.

Regarding women contractors, there is one in Queenstown and it was given 20% shares on tender. Project Managers were employed to monitor and advise in projects they visit in municipalities weekly. Traditional leaders are participating in the municipal activities and campaigns. The MEC said municipalities should budget for traditional leaders subsistence and transport allowances (S&T) in order for them to attend meetings.

The MEC welcomed everyone present and informed the community that they must speak out about everything relating to housing, they must either complain or praise the Department of Housing where necessary.

· The issue of the slow pace on housing delivery was raised as well as the infrastructure-related problem in Ward 41, in Mdantsane area. Houses in Hani Park were poorly built and did not seem they wee going to last even ten years and door frames were falling apart.

· There was an issue of people who were still waiting for houses since

1982. Disabled people were not receiving suitable houses for their- condition. Their houses were not spacious enough and the roads were uneven to accommodate the use of wheel chairs.

· People from Scenary Park raised a complaint that the area that has no community hall, roads or an entertainment centre for their children. People who are sharing in uMdantsane are experiencing problems regarding the situation, and there is nothing done about it. Certain residents were frustrated, especially those who have been saving for three years and have already bought and owned land. They had to undergo a long waiting period before receiving the government subsidy to build their homes. The Nkonkobe Builders Association also raised a concern that tenders that were given to big companies.

The MEC said there are many problems that hinder progress in development projects. Ward Committees were affected by lack of progress as they could not do their work. The issue of people sharing in uMdantsane would also be considered. He further said that people will be moved to Postam where there were houses to be built, and the sewerage pipes would be extended. All municipalities were requested to submit their lists of people with disabilities as there were funds available to cater for the situation. There were other 300 rural areas that joined Buffalo City Municipality who will also receive all the necessary services including the VIP toilets.

The Buffalo City Municipality was busy with the housing policy issues, and was hoping to complete it by September 2003. The issue of infrastructure, the elderly and the victims of HIV/Aids were also being considered. On completion of the housing policy, the Department of Housing will advise on the way forward. Mr T Cebe from the Provincial Department of Housing said that Peoples Housing Process needs to be given a priority on the delivery of houses although there is a huge backlog viz: nationally and provincially. The MEC and the Department of Housing were aware of Nkonkobe Builders Association's concerns and the matter would be dealt with accordingly.

(1)The Department must make a follow-up on the following projects that

are not yet completed:

(a)Umzimkhulu Town Ext. 6

(b)Tyoksville Project only 100 completed out of 700.

(c)King Williams Town Housing Association 420 houses of the first project need to be unblocked.

(d)Projects have not yet been built - Santombe 450, Extension 7 - 341 and Extension 8 - 500.

(2) Many projects visited showed non-adherence to the required norms and standards. The poor quality of housing units undermines the government's ability to deliver adequate houses. The MEC must follow this matter up.

(3) The Committee urges the department to look at this matter as a matter of urgency. When National Home Builders' Registration Council (NHBRC) needs to be involved in this process, houses that we are referring to are:

(i) Umzimkhulu Ext. 6, where doors and windows are built without lentels.

(ii) Quality of houses in Tyoksville is very poor. Similarly to Chris Hani Village in uMdantsane and Hani Park.

(4)There is a need for clarity given of what is meant by a PHP process.

(5) The delegation noted that in many projects, clearly there was no defined developer -projects were being managed by an absentee Project Manager - and this has to be resolved as a matter of urgency by the MEC. e.g. Tyoksville Project Manager who is based in East London. The Project Manager has to be located at the District Municipality.

(6) The Committee has noted with concern that subsidy given for houses to be built at extension 6, deposited R800.00- what happened to the rest of the subsidy - Committee wants an investigation to this matter.

(7) Housing Support Centres and Capacity Building programme for the community has to be set up by the Department as a matter of urgency.

(8) Issues of land continue to hinder the housing delivery process. Communal Land Bill is seen as the only solution.

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