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| 2008/09 Policy and Budget Speech by MEC for Mpumalanga Department of Housing Honourable Candith Mashego-Dlamini, Mpumalanga Legislature 5 June 2008 Honourable Speaker and Deputy Speaker, Madam Speaker, with the permission of the house, I hereby table the Policy and Budget Speech for Vote 14, the Department of Housing. Administration Again Madame Speaker, this department has been established as a result of the decision by the Executive Council to split the Department of Local Government and Housing into two separate votes and the subsequent proclamation by President Thabo Mbeki that confirmed the split. The establishment of the Department of Housing will enable us to reinforce our service delivery programme. We have also revisited our organogram and strengthened some of our key delivery components such as having a dedicated Accounting Officer to specifically deal with issues of housing delivery. This has also given us an opportunity to review our planning, project management and inspection capacity. Going forward Madame Speaker our approach entails decentralizing all the functions pertaining to the house programme to the three districts. This will entail establishing fully fledged district offices with district managers appointed at senior manager level. All these initiatives will ensure that we continue on the right course of ensuring that we provide sustainable human settlements. Housing Madame Speaker, last year when we delivered our budget speech our housing programme was in disarray and plagued with problems. We made an undertaking then, which still stands true even today, that we were committed to ensuring that we accelerate housing delivery in the province and improve the quality of the houses. I am indeed glad to announce that despite the challenges we had we have improved our housing delivery programme. As compared to the 2006/07 financial year, in 2007/08 we were able to exceed our set target. By the end of March 2008, the Department had managed to deliver 12 320 housing units which exceeded our target of 8583 units. The Department has managed to procure a number of pieces of land for housing development. The department has secured land in the following municipalities, Mbombela, Steve Tshwete and Govan Mbeki. The acquired land will ease the problem that we have faced of lack of land for low cost housing delivery. The land is well located and will cater for various housing needs as outlined by the National Housing Strategy known as the Breaking New Ground (BNG). Our biggest housing thrust this financial year will be to roll out our Breaking New Ground (BNG) housing plan. Mpumalanga Housing Finance Company (MHFCo) has been tasked with the responsibility to establish integrated and sustainable human settlements in the Province. In this regard, major housing projects have been initiated through partnerships with the Department, MHF-Co, and Local Municipalities with projects already commenced and at different stages of development. For 2008/09 we have planned to build 150 units at a cost of R180 million under the BNG and they will be in Mbombela, Thaba Chweu, Emalahleni, Steve Tshwete, Govan Mbeki and Dipaliseng. We will be launching this initiative in Thaba Chweu in July 2008. We welcome the private sector initiative by Mondi forestry, who have shown an interest to donate land in the Mkhondo Municipality for Housing development purposes. This land will be used to build houses for both their own employees and the general public. All these projects are planned and designed to meet the principles of integrated and sustainable human settlement, which will include the following: Integration * Well located land in relation to economic opportunities Sustainability * Proximity to places of work Madame Speaker, I must congratulate our parastatal, MHFCo for the sterling work that they have continued to perform. The company has, during the 2007/08 financial year, successfully housed 726 people in the Province at an amount of R22, 3 million. The company has maintained a good track record of 97% repayment rate achieved during the financial year under review. The Mpumalanga Housing Finance Company has created a new division for Property Development during the year. The main tasks of this division are the following: * To ensure the availability of suitable land In this regard I would like to acknowledge the Chairperson of the Board Mr Gay Mokoena, the Chief Executive Officer, Mr Gijima Dladla and the rest of the staff of MHFCo. However we are still faced with the challenge of non-availability of affordable housing stock for low to moderate income earners, a total of 1068 people could not be provided with shelter they needed, as per the housing needs assessment conducted by MHF-Co in the Mbombela, Umjindi, and Emalahleni Municipalities. Completion of incomplete projects Madame Speaker, we have taken a decision not to embark on any new projects. The focus this financial year will be to complete all incomplete houses. The number of outstanding houses as at the end of the financial year was 16,682. The Department has budgeted for 10,436 houses in the 2008/09 financial year. The remaining balance will be completed in the 2009/10. Our ability to achieve these targets will depend on our contractors. We have made it clear that we will need high capacity contractors. Through our supply chain management processes the department has identified and appointed contractors with the requisite capacity. We have also terminated 23 contractors in the 2007/08 financial year for poor performance. I must indicate that we will continue to terminate those contractors who perform poorly and violate the terms of their contract they enter with the department and by so doing also compromise on the quality of the houses that we deliver to the people. Eradication of informal settlement Even though our main focus will be the completion of incomplete houses we cannot leave the issue of informal settlements unattended. We are still determined to meet the target of eradicating all informal settlements by 2014. The Department has taken a conscious decision to deal with the scourge of mushrooming of informal settlement in the province. The pilot projects that were started during the 2007 2008 financial year, towards the eradication of this scourge in Lekwa, Emalahleni and Mkhondo, are currently underway and the construction of those housing units are in various stages. We will put more effort to accelerate these projects. We will further install services in 3337 sites in Msukaligwa, Albert Luthuli, Mkhondo, Dr JS Moroka and Thaba Chweu. For the sites in the five mentioned municipalities, an amount R65,1 million has been allocated. Poeople's Housing Process Our People's Housing Process programme has faced a number of challenges over the years. These challenges have unfortunately led to slow delivery of houses under this programme. While the whole intention of this programme was to get people to build for themselves in terms of proving sweat equity, there have been challenges with regards to the facilitation by the support organizations to get these people to work together to deliver the houses. We appreciate the review of this programme by National, to allow it be contractor based. We have therefore in the past year implemented this programme by applying the contractor driven approach. This approach has seen us un-bottle the challenges that faced this programme. For this financial year we have planned to deliver 1 677 housing units through this programme in ten municipalities at a cost of R72, 1 million. We would like to call upon the communities to co-operate with the appointed support organizations to make this programme a success. Housing Chapters Madame Speaker, as we indicated in our last budget speech, we have aggressively changed our planning approach, which hindered our delivery initiatives. We have introduced the housing chapters, which seek to address the challenges on planning for housing delivery in municipalities. The department has set aside R5 million to assist municipalities to fully develop the housing chapters of the IDPs. Social Amenities Our strategy for delivering housing units in the past was faced by several challenges amongst others was the non availability of social amenities in the human settlements that we developed. The BNG strategy is seeking to address such challenges going forward by ensuring that the settlements that we develop have all necessary social and economic facilities. We have planned to construct six social facilities in Mbombela, Bushbuckridge, Nkomazi, Emalahleni and Mkhondo. We have set aside R26 million for this. For too long our people in the rural areas have been ignored. The Rural Housing programme seeks to address the shelter needs of the rural dwellers who have a function security of tenure. This programme also enables women beneficiaries to access housing on their own rights. Through this programme the beneficiaries may decide collectively to opt for other needed services other than housing. For 2008/09 we have set aside an amount of R23 million for 500 units in Mbombela, Bushbuckridge, Nkomazi, Dr JS Moroka and Albert Luthuli. Emergency Housing Under this programme we are providing relief assistance in terms of housing subsidy grants to communities whose houses have been affected by disasters, fires and storms. We are currently rebuilding 283 houses in Thembisile, 178 houses in Albert Luthuli, 86 houses in Govan Mbeki, 81 houses in Mbombela and 522 houses Bushbuckridge. I would like to acknowledge the presence in the house of Mr Mike Nessane of Balethavha Maboni and Micca Joint Venture, who donated two houses to the victims of the recent disasters in Damphries. It's such business people who remind us of the essence of Ubuntu. We call upon other business people to take lessons from such companies and come to the fore during times of disasters. Farm Worker Housing Madam Speaker, Last year we had planned to build 444 units under this programme. Indeed we had not anticipated the number of challenges that we were going to encounter. This has proven to be a lengthy process largely regarding the land and EIA issues. Consultants have been appointed to undertake the above functions. The relevant communities have been extensively consulted and as soon as the approvals are in place, contractors will be appointed for the construction of these houses. I would like to send a special word of appreciation to Mr Paul Gray of Lekwa, Mr LM Kadish of Msukaligwa and Asgri Operations of Bethal for donating some land to build for the farm workers. In the 2008/09 financial we will begin with the actual construction of these farm worker houses. A total of 340 units at a cost of R16 million will be built in Mbombela, Nkomazi, Thaba Chweu, Umjindi, Govan Mbeki, Lekwa, Msukaligwa, Delmas, Emalahleni and Steve Tshwete. Rectification Project Madam Speaker, we continue to receive complaints on the poor quality of houses that were built prior 1994, during the apartheid regime. These houses are falling apart. We have set aside an amount of R2, 4 million for the assessment of such houses in Umjindi, Emalahleni, Steve Tshwete and Lekwa. After the assessment we will cost the work to be done and will budget for their rehabilitation in the next financial year. Conversion of hostels into family units This programme ensures access to affordable state rental housing converting old hostel into community residential units. In some other instances constructing new blocks of flats. During the 2007/08, the Department managed to convert and completed 210 units under this programme. In this financial, 2008/09, the Department plans to convert 440 units into community residential units in Kwa Guqa, Sakhile and Mzinoni. The Department will do designs and planning for three hostels namely Mashishing, Emgwenya, Emthonjeni and we will do the facilitation in Ogies (Phola) for implementation 2009/2010. Social Rental Housing The process of converting the housing associations into municipal entities has not moved as anticipated. MHFCo as an agent of the department has been tasked to oversee the transition of these associations into municipal entities. It is our intention that as MHFCo convert these associations to municipal entities, there is a mutual understanding between the municipalities and the association concerned in terms of their roles and responsibilities. Rental Tribunal The Rental Tribunal has continued to perform exceptionally well. The Tribunal received 162 cases and successfully resolved 93 cases. We will increase this number in the new financial year. For the Tribunal to be seen as independent and free of any influence what so ever we will establish permanent offices where the secretarial and all administrative work for it will be conducted. We will intensify the awareness campaigns of the Tribunal through the various media. We have put aside R1.1 million to ensure that the operations of the tribunal are adequately funded. Houses for Veterans As a department we recognize the role played by our veterans in the liberation of this country. We appreciate that the ruling party has taken a firm decision regarding housing veterans in this country. The department has obtained a data base of veterans compiled by the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and we are currently verifying this information to establish the housing needs for the comrades concerned. We call upon the Umkhonto we Sizwe War Veterans and other former non statutory formations to assist the department in the verification process. Conclusion Madame Speaker, it is indeed my honour and privilege to stand before this house and table the 2008/09 budget speech for the Department of Housing. I stand before this house, as we hit the final stretch of our current five year term in government more committed that we shall ensure that we deliver on the mandate given to us by the people. We will build sustainable human settlements and ensure that the houses that we build restore the dignity of our people. I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation to my family, especially my husband who has been a pillar of strength, the Portfolio Committee led by Honorable NJ Mahlangu, the Acting Head of Department for Housing, Mr. Cyril Dlamini, the Senior Management of the Department and the rest of the staff for the commitment they have shown towards their work and in bringing about a better life to our people. Madame Speaker, allow me to table the budget for the Department of Housing and I accordingly request the house to approve the amount of R 768 820 million for the financial year 2008/09, to be allocated as follows: Allocated amount 2008/09 * Administration: 41 463 Issued by: Department of Local Government and Housing, Mpumalanga Provincial Government |