Chairperson, please allow me to welcome our provincial Minister, Bongi Madikizela. I am very proud to have you here today.
In the DA we say that the time has come to honour our past and own our future. In this spirit, I wish to quote my colleague, Stevens Mokgalapa, when he said the following in response to the state of the nation address:
A home must reflect the health and happiness of the family it shelters. A home that falls apart or seeps rain through stormy nights is uninhabitable and unfit. It falls short of our vision of all South Africans living in a home that they are proud of. South Africans deserve better.
When we say "South Africans deserve better", we mean that delivering quality houses for all should be an integrated approach across governmental departments. Human Settlements is but one department that ensures the realisation of sustainable human livelihoods. While it plays the most significant role, there should be a joint approach to housing delivery. This includes a commitment from the Department of Public Works not to delay the release of land and the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs to speed up the environmental impact assessment processes.
It is therefore the responsibility of the whole of government to work together and adopt an integrated approach to deliver quality, sustainable human settlements for all. The bulk of the resources continue to be within all other departments in the different spheres of government, nongovernmental organisations and the private sector. It is crucial for these resources to be pulled together to realise the vision of achieving social and economic freedom.
South Africa celebrated its 18th birthday as a free and democratic country. However, freedom has a different meaning for many of us and it remains an uphill struggle, especially for the poor, for whom social and economic freedom is still a dream. Our women, children, youth, persons with disabilities and older persons - the most vulnerable majority in our country - still continue to battle to get a taste of social and economic freedom, while a small minority enjoys it. So, I wish to remind the Minister of Human Settlements, Mr Tokyo Sexwale, and his department as well as our Director-General, Mr Zulu, that as custodians of the housing sector they are obligated by the Constitution of our country to provide access to adequate housing to all our citizens.
The Department of Human Settlements, in their overview of their strategic plan, informed the portfolio committee that they were in the process of revising the plan, which was informed by Outcome 8 and the estimates of national expenditure. While we acknowledge and understand that such a revision is important and that, as in most Ministries, they are preparing a turnaround strategy projected to take place from 1 April 2012, we only hope that this process is not used as an escape from accounting for targets not reached in the financial year under discussion, as highlighted by my colleague today.
There are a number of entities that are funded by the Department of Human Settlements to optimise the skills base for affordable housing. The department must ensure that capacity exist within the department itself to monitor, evaluate and ensure oversight over these entities instead of being overly reliant on these entities to carry out the mandate of the department. It is of the utmost importance that these entities have the capacity and resources to assist the department to achieve its mandate. All too often entities are established at the cost of the taxpayer with no tangible outcomes.
The National Planning Commission Framework is specific when it refers to human settlements. Where development happens, a paradigm shift is needed to change the spatial landscape and patterns of South Africa, which continue to marginalise the poor. Municipalities and provincial governments currently have spatial development frameworks in place to identify and ensure that land is specified and utilised optimally for development suited for purpose. It is disappointing to note, however, that there is no national overarching spatial development framework in the national Department of Human Settlements to give effect to the strategic objectives of the National Development Plan on spatial development.
The Integrated Development Plan, IDP, process - the Chairperson knows that I always like to talk about the IDP - at local government level plays a vital role in the identification phase of the need for housing. The department must be cognisant of the importance of this process because it contains fundamental information and socioeconomic demographics regarding housing, sanitation and basic infrastructure needs.
In the Western Cape, where the DA governs, one of Minister Madikizela's strategic objectives is to expand on consumer education programmes for municipalities. This includes an outreach initiative on the part of the province to ensure that beneficiaries are aware of their rights and responsibilities both as home owners and tenants. We often hear and even know of cases where people sell their RDP houses, very often for next to nothing. I believe that through education people will start to understand what the economic value of their asset is, make better and more responsible decisions, and realise that a house is a step towards achieving economic and social freedom.
Unemployment continues to be one of the major challenges in our country and we must take note that if no one in a house has a job, it will leave our poor powerless. I had the opportunity yesterday to bring this to your attention, Minister.
Lastly, I wish to thank our portfolio committee chairperson, Mrs Dambuza, for her strong leadership within the committee and for setting the pace for robust discussion and interrogation of the performance of the Minister and his department, keeping them accountable. You are a true activist for the rights of all our people. Enkosi. [Thank you.]