Chairperson, it is a great honour to have this opportunity of addressing this august House today on this Budget Vote. Allow me, Chairperson, to greet the Minister of Human Settlements, hon Tokyo Sexwale, and welcome him to the vibrant Human Settlements family.
I also welcome Minister Nathi Mthethwa, chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements hon Nomhle Dambuza, hon members, the Director-General of Human Settlements Dr Benny Kotsoane and his team, honoured guests, our MEC of the Western Cape Nkosi Madikizela, the MEC of the Northern Cape and my family.
This Budget Vote takes place as we mark the 54th anniversary of the Freedom Charter, the historic document founded by the people of South Africa from all walks of life, as well as the 33rd anniversary of 16 June, which marks the heroic action by the students of the class of 1976, whose clear message was: "Genoeg is genoeg. Enough is enough." Hence we welcome the initiative by the Department of Human Settlements in marking this anniversary on Friday, 26 June at Eshowe in KwaZulu-Natal by the YouthBuild programme, in which young people were building houses of quality for elderly people.
As we embark on the war against poverty we reiterate, and commit ourselves to, the assertions of the Freedom Charter. This developmental state led by the ANC has taken it upon itself to translate these dreams into reality. Our mandate as this Ministry is to build on the foundation laid by the policy of Breaking New Ground.
We are unapologetic in asserting that planning together, budgeting together and co-ordinating together remain the prerequisites and non-negotiables for the realisation of integrated human settlements. Our funding mechanism must also be streamlined, so that housing grants are consolidated into a single grant that responds to human settlement requirements. There is also a need to eliminate unnecessary bottlenecks, contractors must be paid timeously and the environmental impact analysis delays must be done away with.
The provision of homes to our people cannot be the responsibility of government alone. We need the participation of all sectors of our society. Working together we can do more. [Applause.]
People must be at the centre of everything we do. Beneficiaries must be active participants in the provision of human settlements. As we build integrated human settlements, we must also build responsive citizenry. The building of homes must contribute to the building of communities. This is why we will continue to promote and support the People's Housing Process.
The role of emerging contractors cannot be overemphasised. Unfortunately, they have a tendency to continue emerging ad infinitum. Something must be done to remedy this situation, but we will uproot fly-by-nights in the building industry. We need contractors who are prepared to contribute constructively so that government gets value for money. [Applause.]
We commend the continued contribution made by the financial sector, but more needs to be done in order to enhance this partnership. Of course we do know that profit margins are low in the low-cost housing environment, but the establishment of the Housing Development Agency will bring about human settlements housing delivery in economies of scale. This will only be realised with the active participation of the private sector, particularly the rolling out of the rental stock and bond houses.
In the light of this, there is a need to establish a macro-organisational framework in order to facilitate the convergence of different government mandates for human settlements development. It is underpinned by a set of principles which are necessary for strengthening co-ordination in government.
The priorities of the framework include: firstly, to compile a national development plan for human settlements, produce settlement level plans and promote innovative project development; secondly, to align funding streams and existing built environment-related grants; and thirdly, to ensure effective project management and capacity development at implementation level. The framework must also speak to the issues of monitoring, evaluation and risk management.
The implementation of a comprehensive plan for the creation of sustainable human settlements requires the department to rationalise its entities to ensure proper alignment of mandates. This process has led to the need for the dissolution of certain entities and the establishment of new ones.
In this regard, during this financial year the department will be concluding the closure of Servcon Housing Solutions, which will cease operations on 30 September 2009; Thubelisha Homes, which is scheduled to cease operations on 31 July 2009; and the Social Housing Foundation, which must fold at the latest in February 2010.
In all three cases efforts are under way to find alternative employment for personnel and optimally harvest the assets, which include knowledge and, in some cases, specialised expertise. To this end, provinces, municipalities and other public entities are encouraged to accommodate the transfer of staff to their establishments when they are approached to do so.
The enactment of the Social Housing Act, 2008, which the Minister spoke about earlier on, comes at a crucial time as government seeks to upscale the development of affordable rental stock as part of creating sustainable human settlements.
In the process of providing proper homes for our people, we will also endeavour to provide community residential units. We will also continue to revisit the issue of hostel redevelopment. We also need to promote inclusionary housing, meaning that wherever there is private property development, at least 20% of that development should be set aside for low- cost housing.
In response to government's rural development drive, the department will in the current financial year introduce a rural housing subsidy voucher programme to assist rural households to source building materials for building their own homes, or even incrementally improving their homes.
I am happy to announce that there is a newly appointed council of the National Home Builders Registration Council, the NHBRC, chaired by Ms Granny Seape. It is critical that the NHBRC focuses on issues of quality and strict adherence to the national housing code. It must also make its presence felt in all provinces so that human settlement projects are registered with the NHBRC. This entity must be able to address the complaints of housing consumers timeously. Failure to do so results in paying huge sums of money for structural defects, which would have cost less if the matter was dealt with appropriately. The inspectors must inspect houses at all stages of development, especially at the foundation level. [Applause.] I am happy that the director-general said that more inspectors are to be trained.
The Housing Development Agency was established in terms of the Housing Development Act, Act 23 of 2008, and was formally launched on 2 March 2009. It commenced its operations on 1 April 2009. I am pleased to note that in a very short space of time it is up and running.
The agency is driving four flagship projects announced at its launch, and in time these projects will deliver up to 100 000 homes, with a total investment of approximately R7 billion.
The Housing Development Agency has two fundamental functions, based on its legislated mandate. These are, firstly, land acquisition and land holding, focusing on state-owned land in general and privately owned land linked to specific prioritised projects; and secondly, project management, including direct and indirect delivery of projects of integrated sustainable human settlements in economies of scale.
The function of the acquisition of well-located land is fundamental to the government's objective of ensuring that citizens of our country are provided with homes in sustainable integrated human settlements, so that we can address the issue of the spatial development framework and begin to build homes for our people closer to their places of work. In this regard the Housing Development Agency will be required to work closely with provinces and municipalities in securing available land, in order to make human settlements a reality.
In addition to this, we expect that the Housing Development Agency will, in the short to medium term, review the land portfolios of the various state- owned entities and government departments to identify and package land for human settlement development.
A key project delivery blockage identified is the mobilisation and co- ordination of all required state funding for human settlement development. It is envisaged that the Housing Development Agency will play an active role in co-ordinating projects and capital budget commitments and in securing capital transfers directly to the projects.
In the main, the Housing Development Agency will primarily support the provinces and municipalities in human settlement development. This support will be delivered through implementation protocols developed with all parties within the established intergovernmental framework. Our objective is to do away with unnecessary bureaucratic bottlenecks in order to fast- track the human settlement delivery processes.
However, in the national priority projects of the N2 Gateway in the Western Cape and Zanemvula in the Eastern Cape, the agency has assumed direct management of implementation within the existing intergovernmental framework.
The work of the Housing Development Agency and the delivery of sustainable human settlements will be hugely enhanced provided three things happen. Firstly, suitable land needs to be made available at a minimal cost. Secondly, funding is needed for a broad range of social amenities, such as parks and playing fields. Also, funding to service the land needs to flow to the project at the right time. This dream can only be realised with the support of the National Planning Commission by putting pressure on related departments to plan and budget together for human settlements. Finally, the internal procedures within the department need to ensure that funding flows in the most efficient manner to the project. We need to beef up the existing personnel so that we have enhanced capacity to deliver on the new mandate.
The department will be improving its oversight management over its entities to maximise their developmental agenda for human settlement.
UMongameli welizwe obekekileyo umnumzana uZuma kwiintetho zakhe azenzileyo apha ePalamente ubeke phambili ukubaluleka kokwakhiwa kwamakhaya, ukhuthaze onke amaSebe ukuba asebenzisane, ahlangabezane ekufezekiseni amaphupha oluntu. Eli Sebe ayilo Sebe lezindlu nje kuphela, liSebe elijongene nazo zonke iimfuno zokuhlala nentlalo-ntle yabantu ukuze kwakhiwe izindlu kwiindawo ezikufutshane neempangelo ukwenzela ukuba wonke ubani abe nempilo engcono.
Inye into urhulumente ayicelayo kubo bonke abantu kukuba sonke sibenegalelo kulo msebenzi. Eli khwelo liya koosomashishini, kubakhi abakhulu nabakhasayo nakubo bonke abahlali, sithi ukwanda kwaliwa ngumthakathi. Lithuba lokuba sivuke, sizenzele sincedisane norhulumente.
Eli Sebe likhokelwa nguMphathiswa uTokyo Sexwale, ozimiseleyo ekusebenzisaneni naye wonke ubani. Okona kumphatha kakubi urhulumente ngaba bantu bathe gqolo ukuthengisa izindlu abazinikwe simahla ngurhulumente babuyele ematyotyombeni. Sithi mabawuyeke lo mkhwa. Sithi halala kumaqobokazana namaqobo athe gqolo ukwakha izindlu ngephulo lePHP, siza kunika inkxaso kakhulu nangakumbi kuwo. Lo rhulumente ukhokelwa yi-ANC uyakhathala ngakumbi ngabantu, uthi abantu abayi kulamba, masisebenzisane mawethu silwe indlala. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraphs follows.)
[The hon President of the country, Mr J G Zuma, in the speeches he delivered at Parliament, emphasised the importance of building houses. He also encouraged all the departments to work together in order to fulfil the dreams of the community. This department is not only the department of housing; it is the department which addresses all the needs of human settlement, so that houses are built near places of work, and it sees to it that everyone has a better life.
There is one thing that government requests from everybody, and that is to contribute to this task. This appeal goes to all businessmen, contractors and subcontractors and to all communities. We say let us help each other. This is the time for us to wake up and do things for ourselves and assist the government.
This department is led by Minister Tokyo Sexwale, who is prepared to work with everybody. What concerns the government the most are those people who continue to sell their houses that have been allocated to them by government at no cost and who then return to the informal settlements. We are saying they should stop this bad practice. We praise the women and men who continue to build through the PHP campaign and we are going to provide more support to this initiative. The ANC-led government is declaring that people shall not starve. Fellow countrymen, let us work together to fight poverty.]
Chairperson, this Ministry is committed to making sure that the Breaking New Ground pilot projects identified in all provinces go ahead as planned. We will ensure that there is in situ upgrading of informal settlements in all provinces. This will mean provision of water, drainage, sanitation, electricity, roads, etc.