Issued by African National Congress - Parliament
19 May 2003
Madam Speaker
Honourable President,
Honourable Minister of Housing - Cde. Bridgette Mabandla,
Ministers, Members of Parliament,
DG of Housing Ms Mpumie Nxumalo and her team and distinguished guest from the housing industry.
It is a great honour and privilege to speak on this important budget vote.
Allow me, Madam Speaker to preface my debate by thanking the former Minister of Housing - Cde. Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele for having served this Housing ministry with a single-minded dedication. Through her hard work the long road of restoring the dignity of our people has begun. She has worked hard in shaping and implementing the policies of our government and the ANC's vision of ensuring the better life for all. Not forgetting the foundation laid by Cde. Joe Slovo in this department.
Our new Minister of Housing has shown courage and commitment to deliver to our people what her predecessor Cde. Sankie has started. We as the portfolio committee have confidence and knowledge that with her guidance we shall overcome any obstacles.
Madam Speaker, the theme of our debate in this budget vote is the role of housing in pushing back the frontiers of poverty. The budget before us presents us with a number of challenges. The accepted level of under spending of departments is 5%. But we have noted with concern that this department's under spending is 24%. This is unacceptable given the present backlog in terms of housing.
I do not want to indulge into reasons for not spending at this present debate. But there is one area that we cannot be silent on is that of provinces who are not spending their budgets. Some of these provinces have been experiencing under spending since the beginning of the financial year 2001 - 2002. The portfolio committee will take this matter up with the relevant MEC's. I want to commend those MEC's who have utilised their budgets, namely, Limpopo, Northern Cape, Western Cape and North West.
However, we have noted the symptoms of poor planning in the tendency that some provinces have, by having accelerated spending of their budgets on the last two months of their financial year February - March. We urge the provinces to refrain from this practice in future.
It is now 9 years since this government has embarked on housing programme, which is directed improving the living conditions of the poorest of the poor. More than 1,5 million houses have been built. At least 2 million people have benefited from the transfer of ownership of 398 000 houses to their residents.
Our government prioritised housing as one of the key focal points of delivery. It is for this reason that the housing policy has one of its cornerstones, the principle of labour intensive building methods and employment creation and or sustaining existing employment opportunities. As a result of this the housing delivery projects have a high labour component. Most important of all is indeed the fact that the major part of employment opportunities provided through the housing projects is for semi-skilled or unskilled labourers. This enables the down-trodden masses of our people to get jobs in order to improve their well being.
According to the strategy statement from the department it is estimated that approximately R3 billion has been spent annually by government through its housing subsidy scheme and sustained 45 000 direct employment opportunities in the building industry. Linked to this are about 43 000 indirect job opportunities in the building industry and component markets which the housing programme sustains.
It is for this reason Madam Speaker that I welcome the ongoing consultation between the department of housing and the department of public works regarding the empowerment of emerging contractors. It is indeed a fact that emerging contractors tend to make use of more labour intensive methods and therefore create more jobs than the capital intensive, larger construction companies. Their increasing involvement will therefore not only serve in their own development, but will increase the job creation potential through the housing delivery process.
Within the spirit of pushing back the frontiers of poverty, provinces are expected to set aside 10% of their budget for the purposes of empowering women contractors. It remains to be seen as to what extent has the provinces been able to implement this mandate. But I do know in the Western Cape province Cde. Nomatyala has been able to do so. There are women contractors in the housing industry and they have proved to be very competent and reliable. This was also echoed by NURCHA when it came before the portfolio committee.
When one speaks about the progress this government has made in the delivery of houses, it is critical that one highlights the challenges that lie ahead. The existing backlog cannot be underestimated.
Numerous fires in the informal settlement, such as Langa, Wallacedene and elsewhere in South Africa are a constant reminder and demonstration of an acute shortage of proper housing to the poorest of the poor. I want to emphasise the fact that our policies are geared to help all South Africans who qualify in terms of the legislation those in urban and rural areas. Ndifuna ukuthi mhlali ngaphambili abantu bethu abasemaphandleni banelungelo lokufumana isubsidy nokuba basemaphandleni okanye ezidolophini.
Between 1994 and 2003, 93% of all subsidies approved were for the maximum subsidy, which involves households with income between 0 and R1 500-00. We do welcome the increase announced by the Minister today of R23 100-00.
This shows very clear that this government is committed in improving the plight of the poor within limited resources. The challenge is, that more than R2 million households who qualify for the subsidy in terms of the law are not yet catered for due to budgetary constraints. But I must sight, however, that there is also a level of corruption that impedes the process of delivery. Beneficiaries and officials that sells RDP houses, this cannot be tolerated. We welcome the investigation by the Minister with regard to corruption in housing delivery.
The Departments target is to build 200 000 houses every year and presently it is only able to build between 160 000 and 178 000 per year. The other contributing factor to the backlog is the population growth, migration and under spending by provinces as I have mentioned earlier. Just to illustrate the magnitude of the problem about two weeks ago in my constituency in Langa, Western Cape.
A member of the community came to my constituency office enquiring about her position on the waiting list. I phoned the provincial office on her behalf. Her file was retrieved and I was told that she applied in March 2002, and that she was very far from the list. As they were only dealing with the waiting list of 1987. That is the reality that we are confronted with as South Africans.
Our responsibility as patriotic citizens from all walks is to unleash the potential of our people. As they continue to participate in large numbers in campaigns that are aimed at improving their living conditions. It is clear that these masses of our people are heeding to the call of our President that of Tirisano Vukuzenzele. Let us hold hands and work together towards a brighter future. Our difficult moments should be seen as a battleground of ideas that leads us to a better tomorrow. When our people participate in the building of their own homes, they come up with bigger houses of not less than 50 square metres and better quality of those built by developers.
But Madam Speaker this also indicates the correctness of the position of our government, that the provision of houses cannot be the sole responsibility of government. We do need partnerships. The private sector especially the financial institutions need to come on board. We welcome the fact that the Minister will continue to engage with the banks on a range of issues from bad debts to red-lining and subsidy linked bonds.
The National Housing Finance Corporation a housing institution created by government have availed R1, 5 billion to the intermediary finance institutions into housing. Building and houses has a potential of bringing basic infrastructure to communities.
The central challenge is to provide synergies in the provision of these services. A need to align our delivery process in order to maximise our impact. To avoid instances where houses are built, but there are no schools, no roads, no clinics, no electricity, but most important of all, no water as it is in Stinkwater in the North West. Our government policies have created a conducive environment for this purpose by the introduction of IDP's.
Section 26 of our constitution states that National, Provincial and Local government has a responsibility through reasonable legislative and other measures within its available resources to achieve the progressive realisation of the right to have adequate housing for all citizens. The housing act of (107 of 1997) Section 3, gives that responsibility to the Province, and Section 9 instructs Local government to do like wise. Municipality Act 9 - 32 of 2000 Section 23 (i) says that the municipality must under take a developmental oriented planning referred to as IDP in the provision of housing.
It is for that reason that the portfolio committee has shown a keen interest in the creation of the IDP's. That is why we are inviting the executive mayors to come before the portfolio committee. Our major concern is whether municipalities have all developed the indigent policy, so as to deal with this issue of water and rates.
Given the category of people we are providing houses to and the issue of child headed households, which remains a challenge to all levels of government. We do congratulate Durban municipality who has reported in the portfolio committee that they have developed their indigent policy. We call municipalities to fast track this process.
I would like to conclude by thanking our Minister Cde. Bridgette Mabandla for inviting me to her visit to the Northern Province. It was clear to me that there is a delivery in that province especially in the rural areas, more in particular to the elderly. I want to thank the MEC of the Northern Province, Cde. Joe Maswangayi for hosting us. I'm extending my thanks to Cde. Nomatyala Hangana for hosting and joining us during our visit to the Western Cape as a portfolio committee. Lastly, I would like to thank the Director General of Housing for her sterling work in the Department.
Together we can make things happen, I thank you and the ANC supports this Budget Vote.