Chairperson, hon Minister, MECs present here today, hon Members of Parliament, chairperson of the portfolio committee hon Dambuza, Mme Mildred Ramakaba-Lesiea, a former Member of Parliament and of this portfolio committee, councillors present, distinguished guests, Director-General of Human Settlements Thabane Zulu and the entire Human Settlements team, I greet you all this afternoon.
Allow me to dedicate this speech in the year when we celebrate 100 years of selfless struggle to the memory of the first Minister of Housing, the late Comrade Joe Slovo. May I also pay tribute to the late Minister for the Public Service and Administration, Comrade Roy Padayachie, the former Minister for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Comrade Sicelo Shiceka, and Member of Parliament, Comrade Florence Nyanda. May their souls rest in peace. We send our heartfelt condolences to their families.
The first 18 years of the democratic South Africa have been very successful. Although challenges remain, the government has laid a sound foundation for socioeconomic development. The vision for the first two decades of freedom is encapsulated in the following pillars: the building of a united, democratic, nonracial and nonsexist society; the deepening of our democracy, culture of human rights and people's participation in changing their lives for the better; meeting the basic needs and developing human resources; fighting crime and combating corruption; building the economy and creating jobs.
It is against this background that, as the Department of Human Settlements, we believe that there is a need to double our efforts in order to fast- track the housing delivery process. Delivery of housing cannot be the responsibility of government alone. We need all stakeholders on board. Hence we created the Youth Build, Women's Build and Each One Settle One, and now we are embarking on the Veterans' Build.
The Department of Human Settlements recognises the role played by the youth in the struggle to bring about a democratic South Africa. It is our belief that the youth is critical in the transformation of our society. It is about time that the voice of young people is not only heard, but counted. As a result, we have the Youth Build every year, where we call upon young people to partner with our department in building houses for the most vulnerable sector in our society, namely the elderly, the sick, people with disabilities and child-headed households.
Youth involvement sends a bold message that they want to be part of the process that changes the South African landscape for the better. Through this programme, youth volunteers have built many houses. Many of these young people have been absorbed in the housing market after completion of the programme.
The department commends these young people for their selfless effort and for putting the interests of their communities first by dedicating their time to helping others. More young people need to come on board and assist the department in the execution of its mandate to provide sustainable human settlements. We encourage young people to establish their own construction companies.
The National Urban Reconstruction Community Housing Association has been established to help emerging contractors. Nurcha has also secured R120 million to assist emerging contractors. The Department of Human Settlements extends an invitation for more dialogue and more action by the youth. This can be in the form of volunteerism, as mentioned earlier, streams of study, as well as taking jobs in areas that will enhance human settlements. Some of these young people have heeded the call and taken bursaries that the department offers in the build environment and many have since graduated, providing much needed skills in different provinces.
We have also had the Youth Round Table, where the Minister met with recognised formations, such as those represented in this Parliament, to discuss issues of human settlement and developmental issues around the youth. Provinces were called upon to convene youth summits where young people, in response to Human Settlements' call to action, will present interventions with which they can help develop this country.
On the issue of the Veterans' Build, the department has concluded the process of rolling out this programme. In its attempts to empower women, the Department of Human Settlements created a Women's Build programme, which takes place on a yearly basis. All provinces are urged to initiate a Women's Build. So far, responses have been very positive. In provinces such as the Free State, we handed over beautiful houses built by women. This province allocated 1 956 houses to women contractors. [Applause.] In August last year the Women's Build was held in Brandfort, in honour of the role played by our struggle icon, Comrade Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. Malibongwe! [Let them be praised!]
We thank the women from all walks of life who continue to partner with us in housing the nation. As government, we will continue to support, capacitate and link them with Nurcha, if they need start-up funding as emerging contractors, and with the National Housing Finance Corporation, if they are involved in the gap market.
Allow me to congratulate South African Women in Construction, SAWiC, for the successful conference held in Durban. We welcome its elected president, Ms Nompumelelo Pakade. SAWiC and Khuthaza are the prominent organisations organising women in the construction sector.
We were in Kimberley in the Northern Cape where we saw members of SAWiC doing very good work and building quality houses. They are in charge of relatively large projects. China Square is one of their outstanding projects and they have completed 500 houses. They are also involved in the Soul City project, rectifying 1 000 units badly built by a male contractor. [Applause.] I am also told that there are three projects run by a woman contractor in Springbok, which I'll be visiting soon.
In Gauteng, SAWiC members are working jointly with the provincial department of human settlements on an enterprise development programme, where SAWiC will empower emerging women contractors with skills through an experiential learning programme. The department will offer projects in accordance with the experience of participants, with clearly defined objectives, from entry to exit points.
Despite the evidently good work done by these women, they still face many challenges. In December we held a women economic empowerment round-table discussion with women in the construction sector. The outcome emphasised the following: firstly, fast-tracking the 30% quota to women contractors and, secondly, integrating the quota with the provinces' planning process and linking it with the Human Settlements Development Grant. All provinces need to do forward planning that includes the implementation of the quota. All provinces should implement a Minmec decision to allocate 1 956 units to women contractors as part of women economic empowerment and also as part of celebrating the historic march of 1956.
With regard to public-private partnership, we have a successful partnership initiative with a number of stakeholders. The beautiful houses built in Mazista and Skierlik in the North West on land donated by a farmer demonstrate that we still have many South Africans with good hearts. [Applause.] These houses were handed over by the Premier of North West, Ms Thandi Modise, and the Minister of Human Settlements, Comrade Tokyo Sexwale.
In Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal, in the Emnambithi Municipality, the Minister of Mineral Resources, Ms Susan Shabangu, the mayor and I handed over quality houses built by a mining company. In the Vhembe district of Limpopo, in Ngombane, SAWiC women, local women in the area and I manufactured bricks and built houses for the poorest families. This process was spearheaded by the then Deputy Minister of Public Works, Ms Bogopane- Zulu. In Orange Farm the ward councillor and I handed over houses built by Habitat for Humanity and the Federation of the Urban Poor, or Fedup, through the People's Housing Process.
Last Thursday I visited a Vulindlela-enhanced PHP project in Msunduzi Municipality in the rural area of Pietermaritzburg. Their target is to build 25 000 housing units in five years. They have completed 6 000 units to date. It is an in-situ upgrading, which rebuilds dilapidated mud houses across nine wards. It has created many job opportunities. The participation of the Amakhosi and local community structures is a good example of a nation at work.
We have many PHP projects across the country needing lots of support from provinces and municipalities. We reiterate that provinces must set aside 15% of their budget allocations for PHP-related projects. We also encourage the creation of housing co-operatives. This is an area that also needs more attention on our side.
Allow me to commend the capacity-building done by the Department of Human Settlements, especially when it assists weak municipalities across the country. I had first-hand experience of this good work when I was called on in December to grace occasions celebrating World Aids Day in Beaufort West in the Karoo and also Human Rights Day in Oudtshoorn. I especially saw evidence of the department's ability to harness community participation.
With regard to the upgrading of informal settlements, there is a direct relationship between the formation of informal settlements and poverty. We have to accept urbanisation as an essential and, indeed, a positive trend, as it presents growth and development opportunities, which need to be harnessed. One has to take into account that a lack of effective planning is the major cause of the formation of new informal settlements. We need planning that anticipates urban growth and housing demand.
Government cannot upgrade informal settlements alone, does so but in partnership with all actors. However, government works with international and local actors towards a context-specific solution in order to address informal-settlement upgrading and monitoring.
Our current policies of informal-settlement upgrading are aimed at addressing the correlation between poverty and informal settlement. This is done in the context of poverty reduction and income and employment- generating activities by combining urban development policies with social policy measures.
We have in many instances partnered with community-based organisations and nonprofit organisations in many informal settlements. Our objective is to empower informalsettlement dwellers during the process of informal- settlement upgrading. We don't want them to be passive recipients of service delivery - they must be part of the solution. Ours is a people- centred, people-driven democracy.
As the Department of Human Settlements, we have upscaled financial support in informal-settlement upgrading by giving accredited city metros the Urban Settlements Development Grant, USDG. This grant promotes integrated development planning to empower cities and towns to manage urban growth and development. It may be used for land acquisition or land redevelopment and the provision of basic infrastructure services for poor households, including the installation of bulk services. It may also be used for the upgrading of informal settlements.
Our objective with this grant is to transform the current townships into sustainable human settlements. Cities have to be creative in order to achieve this goal. As I have said earlier, informal-settlement upgrading cannot be done by the Department of Human Settlements alone. We need the support and collaboration of our sister departments.
With regard to expenditure on the USDG, the February analysis of the expenditure performance against the total allocation of the USDG shows that eThekwini Municipality is the municipality with the highest spending rate, which is 50,1%, followed by the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality at 39,8%. Buffalo City Municipality is the lowest at 16,4%. This differs from the month of January, of course, when eThekwini Municipality was first with a spending rate of 56,5%, followed by Ekurhuleni at 44,3%.
It is important to bear in mind that the USDG allocation is four times more than the municipal infrastructure grant. The figures clearly indicate that metros were not ready to spend the USDG grant. With Buffalo City and Mangaung showing that they were not able to spend their grant, they were advised to apply for roll-overs.
The biggest challenge is not necessarily the capacity of metros to spend, but rather the alignment of their budget cycle with ours. Secondly, what they don't have is an operational budget. I'm happy that the Ministers Top Management Forum, or Mintop, has agreed that the department, through the Programme Management Unit, should establish a team, which would include the department's entities, to assist the metros with this challenge.
With regard to international relations, the Department of Human Settlements has strengthened its relations with Cuba. Our visit to Cuba to recruit more Cuban engineers is a case in point. We attended the African Ministerial Conference on Housing and Urban Development, which was held in Nairobi, as well as the Governing Bureau meeting held in Rabat, Morocco. We also paid a visit to the Netherlands as part of a standing agreement between the two nations. We expect a delegation from the Netherlands to visit South Africa in November this year.
Our visit to India in January this year provided us with the opportunity to meet with the Indian minister of housing, thereby strengthening the India- Brazil-South Africa co-operation on human settlements. The Brics Summit held in India, where the South African delegation was led by President Jacob Zuma, strengthened the long-standing relations between our two countries. It was an honour for Human Settlements to be included in the delegation and we are looking forward to the 2013 Brics Summit in South Africa.
In conclusion, the Department of Human Settlements is excited about the Govan Mbeki Human Settlements Awards, which are currently taking place across the country. The Eastern Cape's event was blessed by the presence of our icon and mama [mother] Epainette Mbeki, who is 96. It was indeed a great honour. These awards are aimed at celebrating excellence in human settlements and are named after one of our struggle icons, Govan Mbeki, who stood for all the values that sustainable partnerships represent, namely unity, strength, equality, nonracialism and nonsexism. He is remembered especially for his spirit of sacrifice and selflessness. The national awards ceremony will be held at Gallagher Estate, Midrand, on 31 May 2012.