Chairperson, hon Minister, the Deputy Minister, hon MECs, hon members, ladies and gentlemen, mandibulele ngeli thuba lokuba ndihlomle ngeBudget Vote no 26 Human Settlement. [Let me thank you for this opportunity to comment on the Human Settlements Vote, Budget Vote No 26.]
I would like to begin by reaffirming what the hon Minister, Mr Tokyo Sexwale, said in terms of his commitment to co-operative governance. He referred to everyone - himself and the MECs - as the team, which is what we are, regardless of which party we represent. This is because the issue of housing cuts across party and colour lines. We must ensure that everything we do is done primarily to improve service delivery and the lives of the poor that all of us represent. So, it is very important that we put these people first.
There is a great deal in Mr Sexwale's speech that is to be welcomed as we set about delivering homes for all our people in the province of the Western Cape. In fact, most of what the Minister said is exactly what I said in my budget speech two weeks ago. [Interjections.]
Firstly, the hon Minister injected a healthy dose of realism about what we can achieve with the current constraints we face. It is true that we are now officially in a recession, a recession that is causing job losses. As unemployment increases so too will the demand for subsidised housing. It is also true that we face a severe funding shortfall nationally, which means that as a province we cannot deliver the number of houses that we would like to. As the Minister noted, if the current trends continue we will be faced with a national funding shortfall for housing of about R253 billion by 2016.
As things currently stand in the Western Cape, with a budget of R1,5 billion we can only deliver approximately 16 000 houses and 18 000 serviced sites, an untenable situation when you consider that the backlog in the province is estimated at around 450 000 to 500 000.
Studies conducted by the Western Cape department of local government and housing indicate that with this trend the backlog in the Western Cape could have doubled to 800 000 by 2040 owing to migration in the province.
To ensure that, come 2040, we are not in a situation in which the housing backlog has doubled despite all our efforts, we need to do a number of things. Some of these were mentioned by the hon Minister today and yesterday. Firstly, we need to make sure that we get value for money on all existing housing projects. This means rooting out corruption and political infighting, things the Minister mentioned here, that can cause the housing projects to stall, get blocked or fail completely.
As the hon Minister said, corruption remains a major challenge throughout the housing delivery environment. It is encouraging, therefore, that his department has strengthened its relationship with the Special Investigating Unit to take stern action against offenders. This is a process that has been mirrored in the Western Cape housing department as well.
Secondly, we need to revisit the way in which we deliver houses. We need to take a long, hard look at whether the current method of housing delivery, which is primarily through project-linked subsidies for RDP-type housing, is able to maximise what we can deliver with the resources at our disposal. In this regard, the national Minister made some very good points about focusing on in situ upgrading, which I share completely. In fact, it was a key theme of my budget speech two weeks ago.
Given the extent of the housing backlog, it is crucial that we focus on what can be achieved with what we have. In situ upgrading of informal settlements is one way to increase people's dignity now through providing them with serviced sites that can be upgraded gradually as more resources become available.
Another way in which we can achieve more value for money is to look seriously at the viability of building higher-density structures. I am aware that there are certain stigmas around building flats instead of houses, but we need to be realistic about what can be achieved with the funding we have and the land we have.
If we were to continue with the current low-density model, we would need enough land to stretch from Cape Town to Mossel Bay, because, currently, in terms of the backlog, we need about 9 000 hectares of land to be able to deal with this backlog.
It is this reality we must remind ourselves of as we deliver houses. Nothing is achieved by raising the expectations of people when it is impossible to meet those expectations. That is a recipe for conflict that can be avoided. This is a lesson that the N2 Gateway project has taught us very clearly.
As we go forward in partnership with the national Department of Housing and the municipalities of this province, we will remain ever mindful of the challenges we face. More importantly, we commit ourselves to engaging constructively with all our stakeholders in finding innovative solutions to delivering houses for the people of the Western Cape.
I must also add that we share the Minister's sentiments completely with regard to the policy changes that he suggested, because we must begin to have a situation in which all the funding for housing goes into one pot, as opposed to the current situation.
We must also begin to address the issue of the People's Housing Process, PHP, which the hon Mabija just spoke about now - in that we must emphasise the importance of encouraging our people to be involved in how their houses are built, so that they take responsibility going forward. With those few words, I thank you, Chairperson. [Applause.]