Chairperson, hon Minister of Human Settlements, other Ministers present here, the Deputy Minister of Human Settlements, fellow comrades, ladies and gentlemen ...
... molweni nonke. Kumnandi ukunibona nilapha. [... greetings to everyone. It's a pleasure to see you here.]
The Freedom Charter of 1955 states that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white. It goes on to say:
... that our people have been robbed of their birthright to land, liberty and peace by a form of government founded on injustice and inequality.
After the 1994 historic transition to democracy, the ANC-led government realised that it was necessary to overcome the fragmented housing regime. It had to start delivering housing immediately because the situation had reached crisis proportions. This democratic government had inherited a critical housing shortage, with a backlog of more than 2,2 million units.
However, from 1994 to 2008, 3,1 million housing subsidies were approved and 2,3 million units were completed. This meant that 9,9 million more citizens could access state-subsidised housing opportunities. Notwithstanding continuing challenges, there has been a marked increase in the budget allocation for developing sustainable human settlements and eradicating informal settlements. Expenditure on housing service delivery increased from R4,8 billion in the 2004-05 financial year to R13,5 billion in 2009- 10.
Over 570 housing projects have been approved and housing grants totalling R12,4 billion have been allocated for 2009-10. This translates into the construction of 226 000 new housing units across all nine provinces. In December 2009 it was reported that since 1994 government had built 1,4 million housing units, providing more than 5 million people with secure homes.
But while much has been done, with the competing demands of affordability and quality becoming almost insurmountable at times, the ANC does not rest on its laurels when it comes to improving the lives of our people. We continuously plan, discuss, debate and implement programmes to physically demonstrate to our people that we, the ANC-led government, care. For example, as far as housing is concerned, the ANC's 2007 national conference in Polokwane recommended that government should, among others, intervene in the housing industry and residential property market to curb the spiralling cost of construction input prices, including the cost of development and supply of building materials; restructure the funding mechanisms; consolidate all housing-related grants and funding streams; and transfer redundant land belonging to state-owned enterprises and municipalities for low-cost housing.
Although some of these proposals will bear fruit in the future, some of them have immediate effects on the housing shortage and the combined outcome is that they will eventually bring the comfort of an own home to each and every one of our citizens. What is important is that we should relentlessly and resolutely advance our efforts until that goal is attained. In order to eradicate informal settlements by 2014, some 500 000 new units a year must become available. A cause for concern is that if we continued with the current trend in the housing budget it would lead to a funding shortfall of R102 billion in 2012, which would increase to R253 billion in 2016.
Another matter of concern is the reconstruction of RDP houses that have been found to be uninhabitable due to shoddy and poor workmanship. The quality of some of these houses did not meet the required standards and, as a result, they began to collapse. There are approximately 40 000 defective RDP houses nationwide that require rebuilding at a cost of approximately R1,3 billion. The R1,3 billion is about 10% of the department's annual budget. This will obviously have financial implications for the department's ability to deliver more houses as fast as it would have liked.
Some of the problems identified by the department as having a direct bearing on housing delivery are: the repeated engagement of the same bad contractors "ezinxuswe ngabantu abasemasebeni ezipokothweni zabo" [who are friends with departmental officials]; housing programmes that have been delayed for long periods; people who have been on the waiting lists for years; RDP houses that are being sold illegally; and the abuse of waiting lists by government employees and councillors.
As pledged by the President in his state of the nation address, government continues to combat corruption in both the public and private sectors because it poses a serious threat to our struggle to build a caring society. The ANC-led government, using its Special Investigating Unit machinery, has embarked ...