Chairperson, hon Minister, Mr Tokyo Sexwale, hon Deputy Minister, visitors and hon members, in South Africa the human settlements development philosophy played itself out in the Freedom Charter, when our people proclaimed:
There shall be houses, security and comfort. All people shall have the right to live where they choose, be decently housed and to bring up their families in comfort and security ... Slums shall be demolished, and new suburbs built where all have transport, roads, lighting, playing fields, crches and social centres.
As the ANC, even as far back as 1955, we had the foresight that sustainable human settlements would become common practice in the future. Moreover, we believed that it was the responsibility of the state to facilitate access to shelter.
However, in practice, the human settlements philosophy was first adopted at the UN Global Habitat Summit in Vancouver, Canada, in 1976. As South Africa, we followed through with this human settlements philosophy in 2002 at the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg. We then committed ourselves to the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, in terms of which targets and timeframes for service delivery were decided. Our commitment to sustainable human settlements has permeated our entire transformation project and found itself in the ANC's 52nd national conference resolution.
However, the approval of our Comprehensive Plan for the Development of Sustainable Human Settlements in 2005 and the revised National Housing Code marked the shift in government from "shelter" to "human settlements". The picture of how we could go about restoring the dignity of our people was beginning to present itself clearly. Our vision of promoting human settlements that would build cohesive, sustainable and caring communities was set in stone when President Jacob Zuma established a new Ministry of Human Settlements within which the Department of Human Settlements would be housed.
The transition to a human settlements framework was a major step in responding to the growing need to prioritise the national Budget towards greater investment in social infrastructure. In line with this paradigm shift from housing to human settlements was a major operational inclusion in the form of a sanitation component. This was a basic necessity that the masses had been denied for a long time. Some of the stakeholders that have been dabbling in human settlements have not been able to comprehend how sanitation provision, along with electricity and water, has helped restore the dignity of our people.
The province of the Western Cape is a sad example of where the state of housing for the majority of the poor has not improved. Even the Mayor of Cape Town has slammed the DA-controlled city. Cape Town is only clean where big business operates - it is very dirty where poor people live. The people in Gugulethu, Nyanga, Athlone, Manenberg, Bonteheuwel and Sir Lowry's Pass, etc, are suffering.
I would like to quote this extract from Lamentations, which former President Comrade Nelson Mandela included in a speech he made at Moria on 20 April 1992:
Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach, Our land is turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners, We are orphans and fatherless, our Mothers are as widows, We have to pay for our water; and our wood is sold unto us, Our necks are under the yoke of oppression, we labour, and we have no rest.
A resident of Mfuleni recently prayed for his children to step out of the front door and onto dry soil just once during his lifetime. People are suffering. It is not as if national government is not allocating money to this province and to this city. Because it is a caring government, it allocates more money for services to vulnerable people every year. Something is wrong.
Sihlalo, kulesi sifundazwe saseNtshonalanga Kapa kukwamachanca kwampunz' edlemini, uchakide uhlolile imamba yalukile, noDladla sewaphenduka uDludlu. [Chairperson, the Western Cape province is a laissez faire area. People do as they please.]
At the corner of Modderdam Road and Stellenbosch Arterial Road, next to the house popularly known as the "green house" ...
... kunemikhukhu. Abanye abantu kumaqembu aphikisayo uma bebona ihhashi kuleyo ndawo bacabanga ngamahhashi omjaho. Uma bebona izinqola ezidonswa yilawo mahhashi kubona kubonakala kwangathi yizimoto okuthiwa ama- Lamborghini apakwe ezindlini zabo eConstantia bavele bakhohlwe ngesimo sendawo abasibonayo kanye nendlala ekhona. (Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)
[... there are informal settlements. When some people from the opposition parties see a horse, they think of race horses. If they see the carts that are drawn by these horses, it appears to them as if it's those cars that are called Lamborghinis, which are parked at their homes in Constantia, and they just forget about the plight of the people in that area.]
Here 47 backyard dwellers were forced to live in a 5m by 4m shack made of plastic. There were no windows or furniture. During the night, parents had to stand because there was no place to lie down to sleep. This was part of a campaign to clean up an area called Mfuleni. With the cold winter that is approaching, we still do not know whether these people and their babies now have a proper roof over their head. Where are the toilets for these people? Where is the clean water? Where is the electricity? We all know that poor people do not get these services in the same way that those in wealthy areas do.
This is a policy debate and we are talking about these things to alert the Minister to where the money in his budget should go. National government is very aware of the challenges that slow down delivery in problem areas. It has therefore designed the budgetary allocation in such a way that these problem areas can be given focused attention.
One such area is Khutsong. Unfortunately this settlement was established on land that is not suitable for sustainable human settlement. It has caused serious problems in the past. We note that the national department has identified this area as a priority project. The Division of Revenue Bill therefore identifies Khutsong as one of the areas where money is allocated for the Gauteng provincial department of human settlements and the Johannesburg Metro to deliver on specific human settlements issues. We would like to know when the roll-out of this commitment will begin, including timeframes for completion. The Select Committee on Public Services has already programmed its third term for this year to visit these and other areas in the Eastern Cape to monitor the delivery of services to these communities.
While efforts to deal with corrupt practices are welcomed, there is consensus that the scale and level of corruption is still unacceptably high. While it is noted that all provinces have compiled business plans on how they will implement their projects, the monitoring and accountability structures still remain very weak in most provinces. While it is noted that there will now be programmes and project management units, or PMUS, in all provinces linked to the national department, one would like to be favoured with information on the timeframes of when these structures will be fully functional, including what role and function the PMUs will play in ensuring that public funds really do trickle down to the poorest of the poor. The issue of deadlines and the mandate still remain to be tested.
Common priorities have meant that we work closely with the national department to plan housing and find mechanisms for addressing the growing number of informal settlements. Underpinning these development efforts is the shared understanding among government departments that the provision of homes to our people is not and cannot be the responsibility of government alone.
Job creation and human development are mutually inclusive. It does not help to provide endless training...