Hon House Chairperson, hon Minister and hon members, the NFP is here to enforce tangible service delivery. [Interjections.]
The NFP notes and appreciates the allocation of R30,5 billion to the Department of Human Settlements with the aim of achieving adequate housing. But the history of the department discloses that in 2011, 2012 and 2013, the department failed to spend 100% of its allocations. This is seen to be due to weak linkages and alignment of infrastructure projects amongst stakeholders - especially in provinces and municipalities - and a number of critical vacancies in the department. The strategic plan is noted with some concerns. For example, the municipal human settlement capacity grant of R300 million is strongly commended. However, the department must come up with a comprehensive strategy as to how the department intends to provide capacity, particularly for the R300 million funding. I say this because the process of assigning housing functions to the six municipalities has unfolded, but the progress report needs to be considered in order to enhance the fruitful expenditure of the R300 million.
The strategic plan is not clear as to how the Human Settlement Development Grant will be fruitfully spent to ensure that informal settlements are not mushrooming concurrently with the building of new houses.
The hon Minister's target to build 1,4 million adequate housing units is noted, but the alignment of infrastructure projects and linkage with other departments is not clear. It is noted with great concern that Mpumalanga province has received more than 79,5% of its budget from the national Department of Human Settlements whilst expenditure was 49,5%, which is below even the projected two-quarter expenditure benchmark of 50%. This necessitates an investigation to be conducted.
Hon Minister, whilst it is expected that you should monitor your strategic plan and the medium-term budget, it is also recommended that you conduct an investigation into why the Limpopo province only spent 15,3% of its allocation in the third term, which is far below the projection and causes suffering to the people on the ground, especially emkhukhwini [those living in shacks].
It is not clear from the strategy as to how the Minister is going to overcome the lengthy procurement process, which is seen to be time- consuming, to roll out housing projects. The Urban Settlement Development Grant suggests that the metros must allocate 3% of R10,2 billion, which is equal to ...