Chairperson, the Vancouver Declaration defined human settlements as "the totality of the human community - whether city, town or village - with all the social, material, organisational, spiritual and cultural elements that sustain it". The fabric of human settlements consists of physical elements and services to which these elements provide material support. The physical components comprise shelter, infrastructure and services. Thus, we appreciate that the Department of Housing has been renamed Human Settlements. It gives hope that the department shall be a comprehensive one that will not only look at housing or shelter but also at the necessary infrastructure and services needed in communities.
We must congratulate the department for having an unqualified audit. This sets a good tone. Nevertheless, the noncompliance with certain sections of the Public Finance Management Act on the N2 Gateway project cannot be overlooked and should be addressed promptly.
It is also disappointing to note in the department's annual report that they have not reported on the department's performance with regard to its objectives, outputs, indicators and targets, as per the approved annual performance plan. Without this report, it becomes almost impossible to assess the extent to which the department has been successful in implementing its activities.
Research has shown a direct link between the provision of infrastructure, income growth and human development. Infrastructure has multiple links to poverty reduction; it can support income generation within households, increase productivity, and decrease time needed for collection and transport of resources and other products. Infrastructure and service delivery can also improve access to health and education. The greatest backlog in infrastructure and service delivery is in the rural areas. South Africa has to make significant and accelerated progress in service and infrastructure delivery to meet national and international targets, such as the Millennium Development Goals. The most critical threats to the sustainability of settlements in South Africa include water scarcity, energy crises, crime and the fear thereof, the Aids pandemic, growing poverty, institutional complexity, and underperformance and inefficiency in some parts of the public sector. We need to see a comprehensive plan that details how these threats will be addressed in order to attain sustainable livelihoods. We cannot continue to build houses and not think of recreation, not think of police stations, not think of health care centres, because that is not building sustainable livelihoods. The UCDP supports Budget Vote No 30 - Human Settlements. [Applause.]