Chairperson, Ministers, comrades and colleagues, I greet you this afternoon. Allow me, Chairperson, to congratulate the Minister of Housing, Dr Lindiwe Sisulu, on the building of houses in Gugulethu-New Rest during the month of August - the women's month - particularly the fact that you said that volunteers should form themselves into a consortium so that they could participate effectively in the building of houses. Let me also thank SA Women in Construction, Sawic, for spearheading this process.
The Rental Housing Amendment Bill before Parliament is aimed at amending the Rental Housing Act, Act 50 of 1999. The Rental Housing Bill intends to make further provision for rulings by the Rental Housing Tribunals; to expand the provisions pertaining to leases and to extend the period allowed for the filling of vacancies in the Rental Housing Tribunals; and to provide for matters connected therewith, as well as to broaden the ambit of the definition of unfair practice.
Section 2(1) of the principal Act states that the government must promote a stable and growing market that progressively meets the latest demand for affordable rental housing among persons who were historically disadvantaged by unfair discrimination through the introduction of incentives, mechanisms and other measures that are aimed at improving conditions in the rental housing market; to encourage investment in urban and rural areas; to correct the distorted patterns of residential settlement by initiating, promoting and facilitating new developments in or the redevelopment of affected areas.
It is important therefore to note that this amendment will assist in the implementation of the Social Housing Bill, whose intention is to fast-track the building of rental housing stock. It will also create a conducive environment for rental households, particularly as far as the relations between landlords and tenants are concerned.
This amendment, in particular, will also facilitate sound relations between tenants and landlords as it prohibits landlords from performing unlawful lockouts of tenants. It also prohibits them from shutting off basic services such as water and electricity to the rental housing properties. But it states as well that tenants must also honour their obligations to pay rent and the good maintenance of rental housing properties.
According to this amendment, the issue of bona fide visitors will be left to the discretion of Rental Housing Tribunals. This amendment states very clearly that the issue of evictions must be referred by the Rental Housing Tribunals to competent courts. Competent courts must deal with this so that the Rental Housing Tribunals themselves do not deal with the issue of evictions but the orders they grant must be executed by competent courts.
What has been reported to the committee, in particular, is the fact that many of the orders granted have not been carried out by the judiciary. This is an area that needs our continued engagement with the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development in order to find out what the problem is, because the inability to act timeously renders the work of Rental Housing Tribunals ineffective.
In our visits as a committee to the Rental Housing Tribunals in the Western Cape, it became clear that more resources were needed to deal with the backlog. But what also became clear was that both tenants and landlords did not take these Rental Housing Tribunals seriously, particularly the respondents or the plaintiff. Some of them did not keep their appointments. This is a resource provided free of charge by government to these beneficiaries to resolve conflicts that arise between landlords and tenants. It is important that those affected make use of this mechanism for the speedy resolution of any conflict that arises from this relationship.
One of the challenges faced by the Rental Housing Tribunals is that of filling vacancies. The Act states that it should be done within a period of a month. This creates difficulties in getting competent people to fill these vacancies. This is why this amendment states that we recommend doing so within a period of three months.
Somlomo, mninzi umsebenzi owenziwa ngala maziko alawula uxambuliswano phakathi kwabaqeshi bezindlu kunye nabaninimzi, kodwa bakwabaninzi nabantu abangalufumaniyo uncedo kuwo, ngoba abawazi la maziko, kwaye urhulumente uzizisa simahla ebantwini ezi nkonzo. Kuyafuneka siwuqaphele kakhulu umba wabantu abangathathi ntweni nabahlawula amaxabiso aphezulu erente phaya ezilokishini.
Ngoba kaloku aba abantu baqashisa abantu abangaziintsapho ezisuka kwisibhozo ukuya kwishumi kwindlu emagumbi mane kuphela. Bathini ngemeko yokuba abantu abahlala apha bahlamba njani, kwaye baphila njani kulo mbodamo, ngoba maxawambi aba baqeshisi okanye oomastandi bona abahlali nalapho, kwaye abanankathalo ngabantu? Loo nto ibeka iimpilo zabantu esichengeni ngoko masiwuqaphele loo mkhwa.
Nokuba uhamba phaya ematyotyombeni kuxinene ngoba oomasitandi bona bafuna nje imali abacingi ngabantu. Abacingi nokuba umlilo ungavela, nto leyo engadala abantu abaninzi baphulukane nemiphefumlo yabo. Xa kutshe abantu bona baza kutyhola urhulumente nangona ingabo abantu abathatha ezi mali zingekho mthethweni.
Iyafuneka kakhulu intsebenziswano phakathi kwabantu, ooceba kunye neenkokheli zasekuhlaleni ukuze senze impilo engcono yawo wonke ubani. Urhulumente kaKhongolozi uthe qgolo ukwakhela abantu izindlu, kodwa akakwazi ukwakhela wonke umntu ngexesha elinye. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraphs follows.)
[Chairperson, Rental Housing Tribunals have a lot of work to resolve conflicts between tenants and landlords but there are also many people who do not get help from these institutions and the reason is that they do not know about them and that Government offers these services for free to the public. We must take note of poor people who cannot afford rentals which are very high in our townships.
Landlords give their tenants small four-roomed houses and do not care how many people occupy a house, and these numbers usually range between eight and ten family members. In many cases landlords are not responsible for the needs of the tenants and sometimes they are not around to take care of them. Tenants find themselves in dangerous situations and all of us must be cautious about this bad behaviour.
In informal settlements shacks are very close together and there is hardly any space between shacks and the landlords are not worried about that as they are interested in the money. They do not think about fires which can destroy the entire settlement and result in the death of people. When the problem arises they blame government when they are the ones who benefit illegally from the rentals.
Co-operation between the public, community leaders and councillors is necessary in order that everybody can enjoy a better life. The ANC-led government will continue to build houses for people but not all at the same time.]
The Rental Housing Tribunals are still addressing the problems of these few people who are aware of this avenue. This amendment is aimed at strengthening the provisions of the Rental Housing Tribunals and to assist them in executing their mandate. The South African Department of Housing has eight years left to meet its objective of having a nation free of slums by 2014, and this is a deadline it intends to meet.
In his 2007 state of the nation address, President Thabo Mbeki said that government remained committed to intensifying the integrated housing programme. Furthermore, the President emphasised the need to speed up the eradication of informal settlements in South Africa, in line with the Millennium Development Goals of 2015. He added that this fast-tracking must integrate communities and build a nonracial society.
So, this piece of legislation, together with all other related pieces of legislation, will assist the Rental Housing Tribunals in addressing the challenges of rental households. The ANC supports this amendment. I thank you. [Applause.]