Mr Speaker, as part of our oversight responsibility, a delegation of DA public representatives recently visited a Reconstruction and Development, RDP, housing project in Jansenville in the Ikwezi Municipality. This project started in 1996 as a mud house project of 75 houses and evolved into an RDP project consisting of 350 houses. The initial project was meant to demolish the mud structures, many of which were very old or dilapidated, and to replace them with new RDP houses.
The Ikwezi Municipality, as the implementing agent, derailed this project to such an extent that beneficiaries and residents were frustrated by the level of corruption, and by the irregularities and administrative bungles. A combination of shortcomings, including the weak capacity of the municipality and the fact that a community development worker acted as the housing official on the project, amplified the propensity for corruption and irregularities to take place.
Some of the observations and findings included, amongst other things, seriously unfair and unscrupulous administration flaws. Although the houses are of a generally acceptable standard, some were built on business sites, some on a church site and, in many instances, two houses were built on the same site. There are even allegations that houses were allocated to people who did not qualify. It was observed that even the ex-mayor had an RDP house built in his back yard. [Interjections.] The DA believes that housing ... Thank you. [Time expired.]