Chairperson, hon Minister and hon Deputy Minister, hon members, the director-general and his team, in his state of the nation address, President Zuma said, and I quote: For as long as there are communities without clean water, decent shelter or proper sanitation we shall not rest and we dare not falter.
He continued:
As part of social infrastructure development, we will provide suitably located and affordable housing and decent human settlements. We will proceed from the understanding that human settlement is not just about building houses. It is about transforming our cities and towns and building cohesive, sustainable and caring communities with closer access to work and social amenities, including sports and recreation facilities.
Transforming our cities and towns from apartheid spatial planning to decent human settlements is not an easy task. It requires the commitment and involvement of all South Africans of goodwill. Hon Minister, you can count on the goodwill of the IFP in working together to do more. [Applause.]
It is unfortunate that, 15 years into democracy, there are communities in our big cities, such as Johannesburg and Durban, that are still subjected to living conditions that are inhumane, have no clean water, no decent shelter and no proper sanitation. I was shocked, but not surprised, but at the same time appreciated the honesty of the Department of Human Settlements when they did a briefing to the portfolio committee and, for the first time in 10 years, acknowledged and admitted that there was no policy in place to deal with the plight of hostels.
Hostels are a direct creation of the inhuman settlement policies of apartheid, including influx control. The absence of a national policy to deal with these hostels frustrates provinces such as Gauteng and KwaZulu- Natal, who are trying their best to solve this ugly legacy. Gauteng alone has more than 60 hostels housing more than 40 000 families. This policy vacuum must be dealt with; we cannot rest and we dare not falter.
The IFP, hon Minister, would like to make a formal request, as suggested by the officials of the department, that we have an urgent hostel indaba in this financial year to deal with this policy vacuum; eradicate single-sex dormitory communal accommodation; provide self-contained or family units which are decent; look at funding models suitable to hostel conditions; provide for different tenure options, not only rentals, as provided by the community residential units policy; integrate all hostels into broader communities around them and do away with this artificial boundary of "us" and "them"; and provide for a property management system uniquely suitable to this sector.
One is mindful that there is a lot of work that has been done to deal with this grey era. We will not be starting from scratch. Many provinces, most especially Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, particularly in Durban and Johannesburg, have done something, but they are frustrated by this grey area caused by the lack of a national policy and funding.
In conclusion, I also wish to extend an invitation to the Minister of Human Settlements - which was declined by the Minister of Housing - to come and visit these hostels in Gauteng and experience first-hand the plight and the suffering of these people.
The IFP will support the Budget Vote. Thank you. [Applause.]