REPORT OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON HOUSING
OVERSIGHT STUDY TOUR TO THE
A. INTRODUCTION
The
Portfolio Committee on Housing undertook an oversight visit to the
B. TERMS OF REFERENCE
As part of
the committees oversight responsibility, the committees main aims were to
check the progress, pace of housing delivery, challenges experienced by the
province and to ensure that government gets value for the funds voted in the
province.
The
Committee hoped to engage with the MEC, Director-General, Provincial Head of
the Department, officials from the municipality and members of the public.
C. DELEGATION
·
Ms ZA Kota-Fredericks ANC (Chairperson)
·
Ms NB Dambuza ANC
·
Mr ZS Mkhize ANC
·
Mr AC Steyn DA
APOLOGIES:
·
Mr L Modisenyane ANC
·
Ms L Chikunga ANC
·
Mr RB Bhoola MF
SUPPORT
STAFF:
·
Ms N Giba
Committee Secretary
·
Mr S Makeleni
Committee Assistant
D. FINDINGS
DAY 1:
Briefing by Mr Boeboe van Wyk,
MEC of Housing and Local Government
Service
delivery and the lack of financial viability at municipalities pose a real
challenge in the province. The main
challenges are the blocked housing projects, due to amongst other reasons,
irregularities by building contractors.
The solution was to remove them from the projects and institute an
investigation against them.
In the
2005/06 financial year, the provincial allocation was cut by 20 million due to
a decline in the population size. Some
funds from this allocation had to be used to cover costs incurred in the
2004/05 financial year, because this budget was used up at the end of October
2004.
There are
weaknesses with respect to checks and verifications on subsidies and data lines
are being upgraded and further investigations are taking place to improve the
situation.
Cross
boundary processes went smooth, but the
Presentation by Ms R Soodeyal, Executive
Manager, Provincial Department of Housing
In the last
financial year, the department over-budgeted in order to eradicate blocked
projects and implement new projects.
The province
has a 40 000 housing backlog, of which 19 000 was acquired from the
Most
projects have existing infrastructure, but a few need infrastructure
development. The Ou
Boks settlement is not an informal settlement, it
needs re-planning and redevelopment.
The
department builds 36 to 40 square metres houses, in relation to the national
norm of 30 square metres. 95% of
provincial housing has a full water-borne system.
The capacity
building unit of the department is not fully fledged. The department needs to fill vacant posts to
save money used on consultants.
The internal
audit unit started with investigations on the Housing Subsidy System (HSS)
after the Scopa report was released.
Municipalities
are used as developers in housing projects. This is due to their knowledge of
where development needs to take place and they operate with Project Managers
employed by the department.
Challenges
experienced by the department ranges from difficulties in subsidy allocations,
quality of houses to capacity problems at regional offices and municipalities.
Interaction with the Mayor and Municipal Councillors
Municipal
houses built before 1994 (old stock) are falling apart.
Current
projects are left incomplete and contractors vanish before completion.
Intervention
requested from the department on the slow pace of housing delivery at some
areas, quality of houses, title deeds to be granted to rightful owners and the
criteria used to choose contractors for projects.
The greatest
challenges of municipalities are:
beneficiaries renting out houses to foreigners, non payment of rates and
tempering with electricity.
Site visits:
·
Housing Support Centre in Galeshewe An initiative of the provincial housing
department with its main responsibilities as the construction of low-cost
housing and the promotion of small contractors.
The centre initiate, conceptualize and implement projects of the
department. It is divided into two
sections, namely, housing development and subsidy processing. The centre is also responsible for the
maintenance of waiting lists.
·
Greenpoint
housing project Project exist for only 7 months. Complaints by beneficiaries
on the quality of houses and the water and sanitation system eg cracked walls and no drinking water in the kitchen or
outside the house and no proper inspection done on the houses before
occupation.
·
Hull Street: Social Housing project
(2004) This is an accredited social housing institution (company) established
to cater for those who do not afford to buy a house or those not qualifying for
a housing subsidy (rental stock).
Receive funds from the
DAY 2:
Interaction
with the Mayor and Municipal Councillors
The municipality experiences capacity problems, as a
result the Department of Provincial and Local Government (DPLG) has intervened
by deploying two engineers to this area.
The involvement of municipality only started in 2004, the Provincial
department was dealing directly with housing provision. Currently in the process of building 123
housing units, which were outstanding from 2004. For the 2006/07 financial year, will build
131 houses. The Jan Kempdorp
project was scaled down from 900 to 647 subsidies, due to financial
constraints. Funds were transferred to
the contractor in advance but the contractor disappeared with government funds.
NHFC has been introduced to this
municipality to negotiate the possibility of providing a loan and NHBRC with the
supervision of projects, Thubelisha to assist in
unblocking these projects.
Funds were allocated for the Pampierstad
project of 274 units in the 1995/06 financial year, a project inherited during
the cross boundary process. Some of the
houses were built and building stopped due to a legal process in progress. Project started again on the old allocation
and there were problems with the contractor, who was underperforming. Investigations are underway. The
Site visits: Hartswater and Pampierstad
Meeting with
stakeholders/public at
In attendance:
MEC van Wyk, PC on Housing Members, Mayor of
Sol Plaatjie Municipality, Councillors and ward
committee members, Thubelisha, NHBRC and NHFC.
Summary of concerns raised by the public:
Summary, in
response to the concerns raised:
DAY 3:
The committee met with the Premier of the
Interaction with
the Mayor and Municipal Councillors -
The decision to approve subsidies lied solely with the
department and there was no communication with the municipality. Currently, the relationship is improving
because ward councillors are directly involved in subsidy applications.
Houses built by Grinaker
Construction cannot be repaired by the municipality because these were built on
wrong locations. This project would be prioritized and NHBRC would be brought
on board.
Some of the farm worker houses are bigger due to
farmers making a contribution to the allocated subsidy by the department.
For all new projects, the department would make funds
available and for the 502 project, NHFC would be brought on board to fast track
the project.
Site visits:
E. COMMITTEE CONCERNS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The
committee expressed dissatisfaction in the quality and size of some houses
built and the number of incomplete projects.
As a result, the committee has undertaken to come back and check on
progress on these challenges.
In order to
ensure quality housing delivery, the committees oversight role need not be
compromised and therefore recommended that:
F. CONCLUSION
The
committee commended the province for the progress done so far, notwithstanding
the fact that challenges exist with respect to projects.
MS ZA
CHAIRPERSON: PC ON HOUSING