Hon Chairperson, Ministers and members of the executive councils, MECs, chairperson of the select committee, hon Pat Sibande, hon members, distinguished guests, it is always humbling to be given the opportunity to account to the people of South Africa through this august House, which deals with matters pertaining to provinces. I take great pleasure in presenting to you the 2011-12 Budget Vote.
Of great importance is that this month is Youth Month, which makes it fitting to remember the young heroes who sacrificed their lives for the freedom of this country. We remember, among others, Hector Pieterson, and Kalushi Solomon Mahlangu, who uttered the following words on his way to the gallows:
Mama, do not cry. Tell my people I love them and that my blood shall nourish the tree that shall bear the fruits of freedom.
Fellow South Africans, it is our obligation to ensure that these words of wisdom and bravery are not in vain. In memory of these heroes and many others, we will continue to triple our efforts in the quest for faster service delivery but also, most importantly, for the provision of shelter to the homeless not to remain just a dream, but become a reality.
The President of the Republic, Mr Jacob Zuma, made the following observations during his state of the nation address in February this year:
Whilst many South Africans celebrate the delivery of houses, electricity or water, there are yet many others who are still waiting. The legacy of decades of apartheid, underdevelopment and colonial oppression cannot be undone in only 17 years.
Subsequently, the Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, stated the following in his Budget Vote:
Spending on housing, water, electricity and community amenities amounted to R122 billion for 2011-12, rising to R138 billion in 2013-14.
The President and Minister signed a performance agreement known as Sustainable Human Settlements and Improved Quality of Household Life, otherwise known as Outcome 8. It encompasses the following outputs: the acceleration of the delivery of housing opportunities, access to basic services, the effective utilisation of land, and an improved property market. Let us briefly deal with each of the above.
Regarding the acceleration of the delivery of housing opportunities, out of the 2 700 informal settlements that exist countrywide, 1 100 of these imijondolo [slums] have been identified for upgrading. The formalisation of 206 of these informal settlements has been completed. A further 335 are in the pipeline. The National Upgrading Support Programme is currently being rolled out to ensure that 49 municipalities have the necessary capacity.
South Africa's population is just under 50 million, of which more than half is urbanised. Our strategy on urban planning and development is therefore undergoing a radical shift in order to adequately respond to urbanisation. Many job seekers in urban areas are not looking to stay in a permanent home but are seeking rental accommodation. Thus there is an increased demand for affordable and well-located rental accommodation.
We have developed a project pipeline with a mix of public-private sector rental stock. The following are examples of what has been achieved thus far: the Umlazi community rental unit programme in KwaZulu-Natal; Brooklyn social housing programme in Cape Town, known as Drommedaris; Amalinda institutional housing subsidy in Buffalo City; Morgens Village housing project in Mitchells Plain; Emerald Sky in Buffalo City; the Cavendish inner-city private sector rental in Johannesburg; small-scale private rental for backyard dwellers in Zola Township in Gauteng; and many others.
All of these are aimed at creating 80 000 rental opportunities by 2014. The leadership of the Social Housing Regulatory Authority, known as SHRA, established last year, must continue to play a key role in all these efforts. A great deal is expected of its board.
Under this deliverable it is important to note that all South Africa's metros with two district municipalities have recently been accredited to drive human settlements projects. This means that for the first time ever funds will be directed straight from the national department into the coffers of the respective municipalities. They include the City of Johannesburg, City of Tshwane, eThekwini Metro, Ekurhuleni Metro, Nelson Mandela Metro, the City of Cape Town, Francis Baard and Pixley Ka Seme district municipalities in the Northern Cape.
Regarding the improvement of access to basic services, we are playing a supportive role to the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs in the provision of basic services such as water, electricity, refuse removal and sanitation.
With regard to the effective utilisation of land, according to our mandate the department is expected to acquire 6 250 hectares of suitable land by 2014. On a positive note, through our institution, the Housing Development Agency, HDA, the department has already achieved this target, long before 2014. Beyond this, more than 20 000 hectares of land suitable for housing have already been identified by the HDA.
On the issue of an improved property market, by November 2010 the department had received overwhelming support in the form of proposals to implement the R1 billion guarantee from many private-sector stakeholders. I want to thank all contributors for their submissions. The department found merit in each proposal. While many were useful, we opted for the mortgage default insurance, known as MDI, as the core implementation strategy. This insurance has strong potential to contribute towards the attainment of the 600 000 loans to the target market. It is envisaged that the mortgage insurance product will be available through the banks as from April 2012. I would therefore urge the National Housing Finance Corporation and the banks to accelerate delivery of affordable houses in terms of the memorandum of understanding they have concluded. Increasing access to and the affordability of home ownership can help stimulate the construction sector, which will provide much-needed jobs. This resonates with our economic policy, the New Growth Path.
Material suppliers are cautioned to contain the cost of their products and avoid any form of collusion which promotes anticompetitive practices. People building their own homes, particularly the poorest of the poor, cannot and should never be exploited.
We have established our delivery and accountability structures in the form of the Human Settlements Implementation Forum. The Human Settlements department is the co-ordinating department. Other participating stakeholders are the Departments of Water Affairs; of Rural Development and Land Reform; of Public Enterprises; and of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Cogta; the SA Local Government Association, Salga; provinces, and accredited municipalities
In relation to the target of about 200 000 subsidised houses and housing opportunities, the provinces have already spent 98% of the funds allocated to them, despite some major obstacles. Our "Follow the Money" campaign helped us to be watchful of expenditure trends throughout the year. This applies to both the operational budget and capital expenditure.
On the issue of procurement, an investigation into procurement in the department is also currently under way, with specific emphasis on overpayment to suppliers. In one of the cases under consideration the supplier admitted to overpayment and has opted to pay an amount of almost R300 000 back to the department. While this is applauded, such a situation should not have arisen in the first place. It is important that invoices and payments should be synchronised. Nothing must deter us from fighting and rooting out corruption wherever it manifests itself. Our resolve remains firm on this issue.
On the 80-20 split of the human settlements development grant, as of 1 April 2011, the national Human Settlements budget is allocated in the form of a 80-20% split. The provinces are allocated 80%, and 20% is directed from national level for specific interventions. As a start, the following projects have been identified as national priority interventions funded from the 20%: Duncan Village in Buffalo City, Eastern Cape; Lufereng, Sweetwaters, Khutsong and Diepsloot in Gauteng; Cornubia in eThekwini, KwaZulu-Natal; Lephalale around Medupi station in Limpopo; and Drakenstein in the Western Cape. The investment being made in all these intervention areas is in the amount of R886 million in the 2011-12 financial year and a billion in the outer year.
Regarding the budget focus for 2011-13, the budget for 2011-12 has increased to R22,5 billion, a 38% increase from 2010-11, and is expected to grow to R26,6 billion in 2013-14. Over the 2011 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, period, the conditional grant to provinces grows from R14,7 billion in 2011-12 to R16,2 billion in 2013-14.
The housing disaster relief grant, which was utilised to facilitate housing assistance in emergency situations, is being discontinued in 2011-12. Over the 2011 period an amount of R1,2 billion has been provided to fund the rural households infrastructure grant. It is to provide specific capital finance for the eradication of rural sanitation backlogs, targeted at households without current access to sanitation and water.
National Treasury has provided funding for a new grant for cities, namely the urban settlements development grant. It will allow eight metropolitan municipalities to improve efficiency to maximise development outcomes and achieve a co-ordinated approach to the management of the built environment. Over the 2011 MTEF period, amounts of R6,4 billion for 2011-12, R7,6 billion for 2012-13 and R8,3 billion for 2013-14 have been allocated to this grant. The department's main cost driver remains the human settlements development grant, together with the new urban settlements development grant for cities. In respect of these grants, the total allocation of R21,2 billion in the 2011-12 financial year represents an amount of about 94% of the department's total allocation.
The vision for 2030 speaks of deracialising our society. The idea is to build social cohesion within communities. As the Department of Human Settlements, we have moved away from a delivery model that focuses on numeric targets alone. We have moved towards an outcomes approach in the creation of sustainable human settlements and an improvement in the quality of each housing unit we produce.
The Minister and I have just returned from Limpopo where, through the YouthBuild programme, the youth were volunteering to build houses for people, particularly the elderly and child-headed households. They took three weeks and built 76 houses of top quality. It was humbling to discover that some of the beneficiaries were over 100 years old and could no longer walk. The houses were built to suit their disability as a result of old age, and they also received wheelchairs.
Allow me to thank all those stakeholders who made YouthBuild a success. These are the National Youth Development Agency, NYDA; African National Congress Youth League, ANCYL; and many other nongovernmental organisations, NGOs, as well as the unemployed youth who came as volunteers from all provinces. We thank the Limpopo province for agreeing that these volunteers be deployed in other projects for the next 18 months. This is indeed job creation and skills development in action. This is how our people in South Africa have begun commemorating the 35 years after the class of 1976. We thank everybody for celebrating Youth Month, and we believe that this budget will enhance that process. Thank you. [Applause.]
Hon Chairperson, Deputy Minister, hon Members and distinguished guests - Deputy Minister, we have noticed your support through thick and thin. Siyabonga. [Thank you.] Keep it up.
Young lion, speak nicely!
Chairperson, allow me to outline where history is based on lies and correct that. We are hundreds and hundreds of miles away from my home where I was born: Bethal in Mpumalanga province. Bethal is known for its past, when people were killed for umanyolo [manure] on notorious farms. When you travel from there and land at Cape Town International Airport, as you leave the building to take transport to the city, your eyes wander to look at the splendour of Table Mountain. But, strikingly, you first see a sea of shacks as far as your eyes can stretch. The people living there are black Africans, South Africans, living in absolute squalor. Welcome to "DA City", a place proudly presented as the success of the opposition, the Democratic Alliance; a city where everything works, or so it is packaged. [Interjections.]
The DA was founded by a concoction of angry people whose intention was to resist change and transformation in South Africa. They were far less concerned about human settlements, for blacks in particular. [Interjections.] Their founders include Dr Louis Luyt, the former president of SARU.
Ubevimbela abantu ukuba ba ... [He was preventing people from ...]
Keep the foreigners out.
Dr Luyt founded the South African English daily newspaper The Citizen with funds from the notorious information scandal, during which hundreds of billions in taxpayers' money were stolen and laundered. During the early nineties Dr Luyt took our icon, former President Nelson Mandela, to court for nothing. [Interjections.]
I will take a point of order.
Hon Chair, I apologise for taking a point of order within a few minutes of you taking the Chair, but on a point of order: Is it parliamentary for an hon member to misrepresent to this House by saying explicitly that Dr Luyt is a founder of the DA? [Interjections.]
He had nothing to do with the DA. You must read up! You must get better researchers. Your researchers are doing it wrong.
He had his own party! You miss the point.
Hon Lees, I do not think that is a point of order, because the member is debating. I am sure you will appreciate that I am not in a position to verify whether what he said is fact or not. Hon Sibande, you may continue. [Interjections.]
Isikhathi sami ngiyasicela, Sihlalo. [I am requesting my time, Chairperson.]
I will repeat this line: during the early nineties Dr Luyt took our icon, former President Nelson Mandela, to court for nothing.
Eish!
The DA made it worse in the Western Cape, even to the extent of selling a piece of land to white foreigners to ensure that there was no space for human settlement for the black majority, in particular. Another founding father of the DA ...
A foreigner is a foreigner - whether white or black! What about Eddie Murphy?
Hon Chair, on a point of order: Is it parliamentary for a member to misrepresent the facts to this House by saying that the DA sold land to foreign whites to prevent blacks from owning the land?
Hon Lees, we are in a debate here. The hon member is putting his facts in terms of how he sees them. If you want to respond to his speech, I would advise that you do so during the debate time.
Thank you.
I will continue later with other founders of this organisation. At a meeting of the President's Co-ordinating Council on Human Settlements on 18 May 2010, President Jacob Zuma said that ...
Hon Chairperson, on a point of order: I did not catch that long sentence. Would the hon member repeat that phrase so I can understand it? Thank you. [Interjections.]
I am going to miss my flight!
Hon van Lingen, there is no point of order. If you missed a point that was being made, Hansard is there for you to listen to the recording. I will not allow any more unnecessary interruptions.
Thank you, Chairperson. Another point is ...
Zikhona izinsiza zokuzwa [... There is an apparatus to use for hearing].
You must put them...
... ezindlebeni zakhe. [... here, in your ears].
At a meeting of the President's Co-ordinating Council on Human Settlements on 18 May 2010, President Jacob Zuma said:
...the concept of human settlements is not just about building houses. We have to change apartheid spatial patterns and ensure that low-income households in rural and urban areas have easy access to economic centres. They must also have access to social amenities and key services such as water, electricity, recreational facilities, schools, clinics and a host of others.
An investment in human settlements is an investment in our future. Habitable and decent settlements promote human dignity and the stability of our communities. They lead to improved performance of children in schools, increased productivity of workers from those communities and improvement in the general health of the population.
The apartheid legacy of the spatial and economic marginalisation of the poor has meant that people live far from job opportunities and major services. Many of our people continue to survive without basic services in many informal settlements. Even those of our people who have jobs and consistent salaries find it difficult to sustain a decent quality of life, as they fall outside of the subsidy bracket but at the same time are unable to afford and access the mortgage products available from commercial banks.
The mandate of the Department of Human Settlements is not about a change of name, but all about the creation of integrated and sustainable human settlements. To fully realise the Freedom Charter's ideals, the department will no longer just build houses, but will play a larger role to co- ordinate, facilitate and support the provision of all essential services that constitute and contribute towards sustainable human settlements to better the conditions of the working class and the poorest of the poor who stand to benefit the most.
The redefined mandate and alignment require the department to create integrated and sustainable human settlements in order to support the creation of better livelihoods. It is also about transforming cities and towns into cohesive, sustainable and caring communities with easy access to work and social amenities, including sports and recreational facilities.
Many informal settlements, by way of contrast, are well located with respect to social amenities and economic opportunities but lack security of tenure and/or access to adequate basic and social services. Urban sprawl and low densities contribute to unproductive and inefficient cities, as poor households continue to be marginalised by distance and transportation costs and the lack of agglomeration in many urban centres undermines economic development and efficiency.
Building on the foundation of aspirations recorded in the Freedom Charter, the White Paper on Housing, the Housing Act and the Comprehensive Plan for the Creation of Sustainable Human Settlements, President Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma confirmed in the state of the nation address of 3 June 2009 that the human settlements future in South Africa must at least consist of: the development of suitably located and affordable housing and decent human settlements; an understanding that human settlements is not just about building houses; transforming our cities and towns towards efficiency, inclusion and sustainability; and building cohesive, sustainable and caring communities with improved access to work and social amenities, including sports and recreation facilities, which means community development and optimal access and inclusion.
The hon President undoubtedly envisaged integrated human settlements where people will have quality of household life. Mixed residential communities will have schools, clinics, sporting facilities, playing fields, shopping centres and economic opportunities. This would give effect to the Breaking New Ground policy.
Kodwa la eNtshonalanga Kapa akwenzeki lokho, awusoze wakubona! [But that does not happen here in the Western Cape!
In response to the different operational and funding needs of large cities, small towns and rural areas, the ANC-led government is making progressive improvements to local government conditional grants. The introduction of the urban settlements development grant, created by merging the municipal infrastructure grant for cities and a portion of the human settlements development grant, is a step forward in this process. It will allow the eight metropolitan municipalities to take a more integrated approach to upgrading urban informal settlements.
The human settlements development grant reflects the conditional grant allocation that is transferred to the provinces. Funding is provided on the basis of housing needs, the number of households earning less than R3 500 per month and the population per province. The rural household infrastructure grant reflects the indirect conditional grant allocation for household infrastructure in rural areas for on-site water and sanitation solutions.
The objective is to improve access to end-user finance by collaborating with the financial sector to develop mechanisms which will increase market penetration by providing loans for households, measured by the number, value and terms of loans to low- and medium-income households. It is also to improve the expenditure efficiency of provinces on housing delivery and sanitation services by providing ongoing financial and grant management support for the human settlements development grant and the rural households infrastructure grant, as well as ongoing business planning and reporting support in line with the Division of Revenue Act, so that provinces are able to use all transferred funds.
It will ensure sound financial management by maintaining ongoing controls and systems, measured by compliance with regulations and established practices. These grants are one of the several streams of funding for human settlements that seek to encourage towns and cities to be proactive developers of urban infrastructure by mobilising domestic capital, and that seek to realise the positive impacts of urbanisation by addressing towns and cities performance constraints and to improve coordination and planning.
The January 2010 Cabinet lekgotla accepted an outcome-based approach to service delivery. For each outcome there is a limited number of measurable outputs with targets. Each output is linked to a set of activities as prepared by the Presidency. While a total of 12 outcomes were identified ... [Time expired.]
Hon Chairperson, on a very serious point of order: We are busy with a very serious debate, Human Settlements, but I do not think that the House has a quorum for this debate. Can we get clarity on that because this is a very serious debate, which touches the lives of our people.
One, two, three, four ...
Hon Bloem, can you stand up? [Interjections.] Hon Bloem, ideally members should be in the House and I am sure you appreciate that some of the members are going in and out. I take note of your point, but we are not taking any vote on anything, or any decisions. We are continuing with the debate. We will proceed with the debate, but we will request that members who are outside be called in. There is no serious issue in terms of policy and therefore we will proceed.
Thank you, hon Chairperson, and apologies from the Minister in the Western Cape for his absence from the House. We hope that the House will understand the situation. [Interjections.] In connection with the shacks along all the roads in all provinces, we must remember that that is a historical problem. All of us must try to address that problem. Don't blame each other. We cannot blame the ANC, and the ANC cannot blame the DA. We must try to solve the problem together. [Interjections.]
The Western Cape government's vision includes the development of integrated and sustainable human settlements. Fortuitously, our strategy for realising that vision is aligned with the national government's Outcome 8, namely Sustainable Human Settlements and Improved Quality of Household Life. In order to create integrated and sustainable human settlements we need to take a very careful look at the social, legislative and physical factors involved in creating such settlements and whether or not our current ways of thinking and doing things are supporting or inhibiting this objective.
Central to the issue of sustainability is job creation. Job creation may appear to be unrelated to housing, yet it actually underpins the success of housing in our country. When people have jobs, they have the power to pay for services, they have an inherent sense of dignity and they have the ability to pay something towards their homes. If too many people cannot pay for their services, municipalities will eventually go bankrupt and there will be no more services.
Human settlements need to be sustainable. This means that people need to be close to job opportunities, transport routes, schools, and hospitals. For transport routes to be economically viable, business centres to be vibrant and for schools to be near where people live, we need high population densities - which means the densification of human settlements.
If we look at the pictures of housing developments that are shown to us and the dreams sold to people, then they are all pictures of single-stand houses with a piece of ground around them. By doing this we keep them entrenched in poverty, as they have to use their minimal resources to travel to work or send their children far to school and they often spend hours every day travelling. No wonder parents have little time for their children or children are too tired to study. The pictures we use to promote housing must change from nice little neat houses to blocks of high-density apartments surrounded by transport routes, close to businesses and full of people sharing public spaces.
When we have high-density projects, it's much easier to produce high- density rental settlements. The national Minister and I - not me but the Minister in the Western Cape, with his comments in his recent budget speech - support the densification of settlements.
The national Minister has also stated that there will be a future cut-off in government-subsidised housing and this creates an urgency to find ways to get beneficiaries to pay towards their housing and, once again, they need jobs. I am delivering this speech on behalf of the Minister, and that is why I'm saying that. [Interjections.]
How can you do that?
In her state of the province address earlier this year the Western Cape Premier, Helen Zille, said:
... there is only one way to overcome poverty and realise a dream of opportunity for all. Unless we ensure that everyone has the chance to get a job, the South African dream will never be more than a dream. A job is a passport out of poverty and the start of the path to prosperity.
Currently it is very difficult for people in the gap housing market, earning about R3 540, to buy a house. These people have families, cars, dreams and jobs to go to, yet they can't qualify for a house. How do we support their dreams of buying a house? We are hoping that the mortgage default insurance designed to support people in the gap market will be available through the banks before April 2012. Currently we have a situation where earners in the gap market are paying for basic services yet can't afford properties, while people below the R3 500 level are being given free houses and free basic services. Surely something is wrong here. If you want to be a homeowner, it pays to stay poor and unemployed! We even have situations where people are threatening to resign from their jobs in order to qualify for houses. We have to address this distorted incentive by ensuring that the gap market is properly serviced.
The Western Cape government's primary focus is now the provision of the basic services of clean water, electricity, sanitation and refuse removal. It's better first to make sure that everyone has basic services, rather than making sure that only some people have houses.
The situation of people living in conditions without these services 17 years after the end of apartheid is unacceptable. People must have basic services. Once everyone has basic services, then we can build more top structures. On this point the Western Cape is in alignment with the national government and the focus on the provision of basic services.
In the Western Cape it is our goal to have no informal settlement without basic services by 2014. Of special interest, though, are legislation and planning that hamper our delivery of housing and services. Planning processes need to be streamlined to ensure quick and effective service delivery, because now it takes at least three years to plan and deliver houses.
It makes absolutely no sense, for instance, to have 11 different grants to put together a single housing unit. Again, it doesn't make sense to have a municipal infrastructure grant separate from a housing grant, because you can't build houses without infrastructure.
Another serious problem that is stalling housing delivery is land invasion. The requirement of the Prevention of Illegal Eviction Act, the Pie Act, for people to be provided with alternative accommodation, encourages this practice. This makes a housing-demand database or waiting list impossible to manage.
As a result of this, people are holding government to ransom by invading any land that is earmarked for development, because they know that they will be moved to alternative accommodation. These people use the Prevention of Illegal Eviction Act to force the government to give them accommodation ahead of their turn. The sad part is that those people living in backyards who have been on the waiting list for years, patiently waiting their turn, become compromised by this Act. This is not right and surely needs to be revisited. In this case it's usually very few individuals that hold us to ransom and delay housing developments meant for thousands of people.
We must change our policy in order for us to respond to the most vulnerable groups of our society, like the elderly, disabled people and child-headed households, and inculcate and encourage our economically active people to play a more active role and to take greater responsibility in the provision of the homes.
While we celebrate the fact that people have rights, we must ensure that we balance those rights with responsibilities. We must change our criteria for people who qualify for our subsidised state housing. It doesn't make sense that because a person is 18 years old and has a baby they must therefore qualify for a house. The state must create a country conducive for young people to be self-sufficient and to be the masters of their own destiny, instead of depending on hand-outs. We know that people get subsidised state houses and sell them for next to nothing and go back to the shacks, thereby increasing the demand and the spread of informal settlements.
Even though we are boasting about having built close to 2,8 million houses over the last 16 years, very few of them have been part of integrated and sustainable human settlements. How much better off are those beneficiaries, really? I thank you. [Applause.]
Chairperson, on a point of order: I did not want to interfere. [Interjections] There was a ruling in the other House that a member of this House can't speak on behalf of a member of the executive council, MEC. I raised it when the hon Mncube was doing that. Now hon De Villiers said that he was speaking on behalf of the MEC. I don't think it's correct. There was a ruling on this thing and we must not create that culture for members of this House. We have an oversight duty over the executive and we cannot speak on their behalf.
Hon Bloem, thank you for that point of order. I'll come back to you with the ruling. I call the next speaker.
Chairperson, Deputy Minister, chairperson of the select committee, hon members, hon guests, ladies and gentlemen in the House, the Eastern Cape department of human settlements is in a transitional stage as it gears itself towards full implementation and delivery on the Outcome 8 approach for integrated sustainable human settlements development. In doing so, the department has reorganised and repositioned itself to assume the pivotal role of mobilising all sector departments towards co-ordinated and integrated planning and budgeting processes.
We are in the process of establishing human settlements and basic service delivery forums in all our eight regions, which will serve as a co- ordinating forum towards achieving intersectoral collaboration. We have further committed ourselves to providing planning support to 39 municipalities to review their housing chapters and integrated development plans.
In pursuit of this extended mandate, we will further be focusing inwardly to create a functional, transparent, predictable and fair department that is responsive to the needs of the people. In this regard, one of our key deliverables is to redesign the department's business model in relation to its core functions, so as to sufficiently enable the delivery of quality houses to the marginalised poor of our society. The department is now at the stage of finalisation of its revised service delivery model.
We need to reiterate that we are clear on the mandate of the department, and that is to build quality houses for the betterment of the lives of the poor. It is imperative that we understand that quality can never be compromised at the expense of chasing numbers. We want to see this outcome realised through a "happy letter" in the hands of a satisfied customer. This is a demonstration of the apex of our commitment. To this end we will focus on priority activities that are aimed at achieving the national targets and outcomes. The implementation of these activities will be closely monitored to ensure the early identification of challenges and responding to them timeously with the requisite interventions.
Our department has risen to the call for an outcomes-based management system and we have aligned our priority focus areas to those of Outcome 8. More than any other province, we are acutely aware of how the policy of segregation has resulted in the exclusion of large sections of the population from economic, social and environmental benefits of vibrant, sustainable and urban development. We are faced with limited employment opportunities in this province and an increase in rural-to-urban migration trends has contributed to the steady growth of informal settlements, particularly in the Buffalo City and Nelson Mandela Metro Municipalities.
According to Census 2001, the number of informal settlements in the Eastern Cape was 205, translating into a housing need totalling 117 719 units, with an estimated funding requirement of R9,4 billion. Ten years later it is clear that these estimates have grown exponentially and that the current allocation is wholly inadequate to address the continued mushrooming of informal settlements. The department is currently enlisting strategic partners to further assist in the eradication of informal settlements, as well as exploring the use of alternative technologies.
To assist in this regard, we have completed the first draft of the White Paper on the Prevention of the Mushrooming of Informal Settlements, which will be tabled at the legislature shortly. We have further prioritised the Duncan Village redevelopment initiative, which has been escalated into a presidential project and we have ring-fenced an amount of R120 702 million to speed up housing development in this area. This project is expected to yield 1 629 units in the current financial year.
As the Eastern Cape is predominantly rural, our department will continue to make a meaningful contribution to the rural development priorities and we have aligned our rural housing policy accordingly. Our strategy for rural settlement development includes the reprioritisation of O R Tambo and Cacadu District Municipalities, implementation of the rural housing policy, implementation of the rural housing voucher and the revitalisation of the enhanced people's housing processes.
The voucher programme entails the issuing of a housing subsidy to rural beneficiaries in the form of a voucher for the purchasing of building materials and services. The rural housing subsidy voucher will be piloted in three identified municipalities, namely Umzimvubu in Alfred Nzo, Mhlontlo in O R Tambo and Intsika Yethu in Chris Hani District Municipalities.
We have taken heed of the President's call that 2011 is a year for job creation, and we will ensure that 9 200 employment opportunities are created through our project implementation. We have already put in place the following processes: that all projects must be Expanded Public Works Programme, EPWP, compliant; and that all contracts must meet EPWP requirements regarding job creation specifications, giving priority to vulnerable groups, namely women, youth and the disabled. We are mindful of the critical role the human settlement sector can play in economic development and poverty eradication.
The department remains committed to promoting sound corporate governance and fighting fraud and corruption, both within the department as well as in our housing projects. To this end, elements of the anticorruption policy are already being implemented, which include conducting awareness-raising campaigns, closely collaborating with law enforcement agencies, and conducting a departmental fraud risk assessment, which will ultimately culminate in the development of our fraud risk plan.
In achieving Outcome 8 priorities, as articulated in the policy speech and the department's annual performance plan, we have identified the following key deliverables for the financial year: Output 1, which is informal settlement upgrade: 15 400 housing units to be completed; and 15 660 basic services to be installed, of which 6 981 will be installed in urban areas and 8 679 will be installed in the rural areas. The services that will be installed in the rural areas include toilets, water tanks and access roads. An amount of R280 million will be spent on in situ upgrading of informal settlements, as well as the relocation projects which comprise 12,85% of the conditional grant budget allocation.
It is worth mentioning that the Eastern Cape has six active Breaking New Ground projects, namely Siyanda in Mnquma Municipality, Ngangelizwe in the King Sabata Dalindyebo Municipality, Elliotdale in Mbhashe Municipality, Thornhill in Ndlambe Municipality, Zanemvula in the Nelson Mandela Metro Municipality and Duncan Village in the Buffalo City Municipality. These projects are beginning to test the implementation of the principles of sustainable development and the promotion of health, social cohesion and inclusion.
For Output 2, R40 million has been set aside for the purchasing of five land parcels, four of which are located within the Buffalo City Municipality and one in the Nelson Mandela Municipality.
For Output 3, R154 million is set aside for the development of 1 150 social rental housing units in three projects and the piloting of community residential units in five local municipalities. This accounts for 7,05% of the conditional grant budget allocation.
For Output 4, rural housing, R135 million has been allocated for rural housing development, and it amounts to 6,21% of the conditional grant budget allocation.
Under rectification, which is Output 5, during this financial year, 3 526 defective houses will be rectified. An amount of R218 million will be spent on the rectification of defective houses. The department will be working closely with national departments towards achieving this output.
In conclusion, I wish to thank all our partners for supporting the department in its commitment to provide housing opportunities to deserving beneficiaries and for their continued contribution to the creation of sustainable and integrated human settlement development. [Applause.]
Hon Chairperson, hon Minister, hon members of the NCOP, members of the public and guests, as long as the nation grows and there is poverty in South Africa, government will be busy with the creation of sustainable human settlements. As long as there are bad control programmes in place, foreigners will get houses before South African citizens do; councillors will have Reconstruction and Development Programme, RDP, houses to rent out and sell; corruption will take place in tender processes; officials will see that people who are willing to pay bribes get houses first; and people in the same family with different surnames will have more than one house. We are dealing with a sick department.
The department must take very strong action against corruption, maladministration in various departmental entities, municipalities and institutions, through the Special Investigating Unit, SIU. One of the biggest challenges in the department is getting enough land available - 6 250 hectares - to build 400 houses by 2014, with closer access to work, sport and recreation facilities.
To reach the goal of having all South Africans in formally planned settlements by 2014, government must speed up delivery. More people must be trained and get the skills to build houses. And the job creation drive should also enhance youth development.
The Jobs Fund of R9 billion budgeted for the next three years must be used in all government departments, as well as in the provincial and local spheres, to motivate and inspire people to work together for a better life in our communities.
One of the main challenges in the process of providing and delivering houses for our disadvantaged and poor people in South Africa is the development of rural areas in the country. The DA wants to know how effective the Rural Housing Loan Fund is, which was initially capitalised with R150 million in the form of a grant from the German Development Bank to the South African government. Is the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme and the Individual Rural Housing Subsidy Voucher Programme, approved by Ministers and members of the executive, Minmec, in place and administered well by the department? Are families in the rural areas aware of such programmes to help them create new financial arrangements and opportunities to improve their housing, economic and living environments? What is the department doing, in terms of advertisements, to promote all the different programmes to the people in rural areas?
The hon Minister Tokyo Sexwale has been on track with the Special Investigating Unit, SIU, since 2009. Millions of rands have already been recovered by the SIU. Criminal cases have been registered with the SA Police Service, SAPS, for fraud. Government officials who were unlawful beneficiaries of housing subsidies have been arrested. Problematic housing projects valued at R2 billion, which are currently under investigation, have been drawn up.
The DA wants to congratulate the Minister, who has made a big effort and wants to stop fraud and mismanagement in his department to the benefit of the poor and disadvantaged people of South Africa. But it is absolutely necessary that the department keeps Parliament updated with the statistics relating to progress being made on fraud, officials who have been convicted and problematic housing projects.
Parliament must make much greater use of the oversight visits to see whether or not the houses that have been built meet the required standards and if there is improved progress around rental accommodation. With these parliamentary oversight visits by the NCOP, housing projects will not collapse as they did, for example, in Rustenburg in the North West province, where not a single house has been built and R500 million has gone down the drain.
There are many more such examples in the country. South Africa cannot afford it. The hon Minister also agrees that his department faces a crisis with more than 1,5 million subsidised houses having been built so badly that they need to be repaired or rebuilt at a cost of billions. The National Home Builders Registration Council, NHBRC, said that of the more than 3 million houses that have been built between 1994 and 2010, only 409 000, or 30%, had been registered with them. They also said that 609 000 or 20% of these houses needed to be rebuilt.
The underspending of money allocated to the delivering of human settlements remains a problem in some of the provinces, and Parliament needs a detailed presentation on how the department intends to spend the money and speed up the delivery of houses in South Africa. The Comprehensive Housing Plan is being implemented through informal settlement upgrading pilot projects in each province. This will improve sustainable living conditions of households.
Rental housing for 1,8 million South Africans in the middle- and lower- income groups remains a problem and the demand is on the increase nationally. The department must look into an affordable rental housing programme for people in the low-income bracket.
The Minister also mentioned that at some point in the future there will need to be a cut-off point on government's subsidised housing, so that people can begin to do things for themselves. Thank you. [Applause.]
Malibongwe! [Let women be praised!] Hon Chairperson, hon Deputy Minister, and hon members, ndi masiari avhudi [good afternoon].
I would like to strongly emphasise that it is the firm belief of the ANC- led government that sustainable development can only be achieved by focusing on poverty eradication and economic development. In addition, water, sanitation and hygiene are regarded as key issues for the achievement of these objectives.
The right of access to a basic level of sanitation is enshrined in the Constitution of South Africa. Municipalities have an obligation to ensure that poor households are not denied access to basic services due to their inability to pay for them.
The 2001 White Paper on Basic Household Sanitation estimated that 18 million people in South Africa lacked access to adequate sanitation facilities, health and hygiene knowledge. According to the Municipal Infrastructure Investment Framework of 2000, about 7% of schools and 15% of clinics in rural areas were without sanitation facilities. The ANC's 2010 National General Council noted that, by March 2009, more than 9 000 households were still using the bucket system, and that more than 35% of South Africans did not have access to proper human waste disposal systems. Most of the 18 million households that did not have access to the basic level of sanitation were situated in rural areas. Of these, approximately two thirds had access to some kind of sanitation below the basic level, leaving approximately 6 million people with no sanitation service at all.
A basic sanitation service is defined as the provision of a basic sanitation facility that is easily accessible to a household and the operation of which is sustainable. This would include the safe removal of human waste and waste water from the premises, where this is appropriate and necessary, and the communication of good sanitation, hygiene and related practices.
The way sanitation is managed is strongly related to settlement conditions for a number of reasons. Rural settlements tend to be more dispersed and are therefore harder to serve with reticulated infrastructure and harder to access by formally run operations and maintenance teams. Having realised the vital need for basic services to the remote rural areas, the ANC-led government identified rural development as one of the country's major priorities.
In response to this prioritisation, the rural household infrastructure grant was established over the 2010 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, period. This grant is administered, managed and implemented by the Department of Human Settlements for the provision of on-site sanitation and water facilities to rural communities. A total of R1,2 billion has been allocated over the 2010 MTEF period, which is divided into R100 million for 2010-11, R350 million for 2011-12 and R750 million for 2012-13. It would appear that real progress is being made. Overall, a total of 26 municipalities benefit from this programme. From a target number of 11 920 toilets, a total of 6 424 pits were under construction and a total of 5 496 sanitation facilities were completed as at 4 April 2011. However, as rain in some provinces affected progress, it will not be possible to reach 100% of the target.
In KwaZulu-Natal, 1 518 sanitation facilities were completed from a target number of 3 675, as progress was hampered by hard rock conditions. From an overall target of 3 600 in Limpopo province, where nine municipalities are benefiting, only 742 sanitation facilities were completed due to heavy rains affecting the programme. In the North West province, the two benefiting municipalities progressed well, with 745 units completed before heavy rains in December 2010 and January 2011 delayed construction. In the Northern Cape, there is only one benefiting municipality, the Joe Morolong Local Municipality, with 392 units having been completed as at 4 April 2011.
In some areas of the Eastern Cape, hard rock and heavy rains delayed progress. In the Mbhashe Local Municipality, 570 units were completed and the target was met. In the Free State, only 100 units were completed from a target of 400 in the Ngwathe Local Municipality, where heavy rains affected the programme. In Mpumalanga, 15 units were not completed in the one benefiting municipality due to heavy rains and a delay in the appointment of the contractor.
Some benefiting municipalities have rejected the appointment of certain service providers appointed as per government procurement procedures, adding to overall challenges. These municipalities insist on the use of local contractors and labourers. There is clearly a need to increase job creation by making use of local labourers, as set out in the tender request.
Poverty and unemployment are problems that South Africa has not been able to overcome successfully. In the urban areas, poverty has led to the growth of informal settlements which are basically residential areas for the low- income groups. The most noted cause of informal settlements is high migration from rural areas by people who are in search of job opportunities and better living conditions than what are available in the rural areas. This has led to a greater demand for low-cost housing in most urban areas in South Africa.
History has shown that labour-based methods of work have long been used in creating remarkable infrastructure works. Labour-intensive programmes generate more direct and indirect local employment opportunities and income by using locally available inputs with local materials, simple tools and local labour, thus creating a greater demand for local products and services than high-technology programmes do. It is therefore logical that municipalities benefiting from the provision of on-site sanitation facilities to rural communities would insist on the use of local contractors and labourers, as I have alluded to.
Construction of low-cost housing has huge potential to redress the high levels of unemployment and poverty in South Africa and also to correct the skills deficits in disadvantaged communities. Properly formulated labour- intensive programmes could be established to construct and maintain the required physical infrastructure. This would then create employment, skills and institutional capacity.
Infrastructure can deliver major benefits in economic growth, poverty alleviation and environmental sustainability, but only when it provides services that respond to effective demand and when it does so efficiently. In provinces where labour is abundant, increased construction activity would be one sure way to increase employment. The construction industry is particularly important for absorbing unskilled labour by giving work to the lowest-income sector in the economy.
Although great strides are being made to provide basic services to our people, much more can be done with a sanitation programme targeted towards the poorest of the poor. This would ensure that the benefits of the programme are delivered to those persons who are most in need. All South Africans should have access to free basic sanitation by 2014, because unlocking and addressing the sanitation backlog will help householders to move closer to breaking the cycle of poverty. It should never be forgotten that "sanitation is dignity" and dignity is a basic human right.
The ANC supports the Human Settlements Budget Vote No 31 even though there are some who do not want to accept that the ANC-led government is delivering. I thank you. [Applause.]
Hon Chairperson, hon Deputy Minister Kota-Fredericks, hon members, the government and private housing sectors in South Africa are in a see-saw situation. The percentage of households living in fully owned formal dwellings increased from 53% in 2002 to 58% in 2007, but in 2009 it decreased again to 56%, according to Statistics SA. [Interjections.]
On the other hand, South Africa is faced with 48 176 informal settlement sites that need improvement. Approximately 17 425 Reconstruction and Development Programme, RDP, houses need to be demolished or rectified, in other words, correcting the shoddy work previously done by companies. The number keeps changing, Minister. The problem with these houses that need to be demolished or rectified relates to the poor quality of foundations, walls and roofs. A recycling project for the recovery and reuse of building material from the demolished RDP houses will create a huge saving in costs and massive job opportunities.
Minister, the majority of beneficiaries of these RDP houses are female. Approximately 39 112 houses need to be delivered in rural areas. We are concerned about the lack of co-ordination and alignment of programmes between the three spheres of government, especially between the provincial and local governments. I believe that the permanent delegates to the NCOP can play a meaningful role in this regard.
From the last report given to the portfolio committee on provincial business plans and Outcome 8 Targets, the national priority is to create sustainable human settlements and improve the quality of household life. This means that in urban areas more houses need to be delivered to avoid stand-offs such as the ones in Mitchells Plain, Eersterivier and Mandela Park in Khayelitsha. This leads to the question: What does slum upgrading entail? Minister, is the department on track to meet its target of 400 000 informal settlement houses?
Cope believes that rural-based provinces should focus on rural housing. By doing so, they will accelerate housing delivery opportunities, as envisaged by the national department. It is therefore unacceptable that the Eastern Cape, as a rural province, only allocates 13% of its budget to informal settlement upgrading. [Interjections.]
Swak! Swak! [Shameful!]
According to Statistics SA, the province does not have a substantial informal dwelling problem.
Cope congratulates Limpopo on allocating 58,3% of its budget for rural housing. This should be the trend in all rural provinces. We then need to ask whether the provincial budgets are in line with the national department targets.
South Africans in poverty-stricken provinces have no access to quality water and sanitation. In 2009, 24% of households in the Northern Cape had problems with water that did not taste good, and 19% of people in the Eastern Cape are still using the bucket system. [Interjections.]
Rural municipalities are faced with huge basic services backlogs - 65% in water and 79% in sanitation. This is compounded by the lack of capacity at both the provincial and local levels.
Cope urges speedy intervention in the challenges facing the Rural Household Infrastructure programme. We also believe that it is far better for the government to identify programmes to train unemployed people and use them in infrastructure development thereafter. I thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]