Chairperson, the lack of affordable housing in South Africa is a well-documented problem. The housing backlog stands at 2.3 million houses and is growing with approximately 180 thousand houses per year.
The Socio-Economic Rights Institute estimated that between 2.9 million and 3.6 million people still live in informal settlements in South Africa today.
Chairperson, Section 26 of the constitution stipulates that everyone has the right to adequate housing. In the ANC's first election manifesto, in 1994, the party stated and I quote:
"A roof over one's head and reasonable living conditions are not a privilege. They are a basic right for human beings".
Chairperson, millions of South Africans are still deprived of this "basic right" in 2019. People continue to live in appalling conditions where a "home" is often nothing more than a shack made from whatever materials are available, with no running water, no proper sanitation or electricity.
In 2014 Minister Lindiwe Sisulu boldly declared that the Department of Human Settlements would create 1.5 million new housing opportunities by 2019. This amounts to 300 thousand build units per year!
Given the fact that the number of build units decreased, this was nothing more than a pipe dream. At its peak in 1999, the government delivered 235 thousand build units per year. In 2018 this number had dropped to a Shocking 90 thousand build units per year.
It is clear that under the ANC government we will never resolve the housing backlog. Government can no longer follow the narrow strategy as outlined initially by the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) and then Breaking New Ground (BNG) programmes for addressing the housing backlog as these have patently failed.
Firstly, because many South Africans still do not have houses, but also because the approach has not worked to create integrated cities and towns.
Chairperson, the DA believes that there is no single solution that will eradicate the housing backlog, but what is essential is a basket of solutions which can address the issue and give
South Africans more choice and a better quality of life when it comes to finding a place to call "home".
The DA recommends we take a new approach: giving more South Africans safe and dignified living spaces; creating more diverse and inclusive cities and towns; bringing more people closer to the economy and educational activities; densifying existing towns and cities; and providing more options that allow South Africans greater choice when it comes to housing.
To do this, we need to give recipients of RDP and BNG houses ownership of the land they live on by giving them title deed. Thank you Minister I appreciate you going to that on a Friday but it is not good enough.
Furthermore, to do this, we need to create a single national housing database which each province and local government will have to cross- reference to prevent beneficiaries from benefitting more than once and launch a national housing audit to verify the current ownership of RDP and BNG houses to
identify where houses have been allocated through corruption or have been sold illegally.
THE HOUSE CHAIRPERSON: Hon Basson, would you just take your seat. Why are you rising, hon Deputy Minister?