Welcome to the Mpumalanga Provincial Government

Policy and Budget Speech 2010/11 by MEC for Human Settlements, Madala Masuku, Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature

11 May 2010

Honourable Speaker and Deputy Speaker
Honourable Premier, Mr DD Mabuza
Honourable Members of the Executive Council
Honourable Members of the Provincial Legislature
Distinguished guests
Friends and citizens of the province

We gather here this afternoon in the beginning of the second year of the current administration. It is exactly a year following the shift from housing to human settlements,  a significant move aimed at propelling the department to deliver services in an integrated and sustainable manner 

Bakerly and Leigh, 2010:418) in The Planning Local Economic Development, theory and practice, says:

 “The quality of the environment in which people would live and work can have a significant effect on whether an individual chooses to live in one locality or another.” Bakerly and Leigh, 2010:418)

This brings us back to where we started Yann Martel (2002), whom I once quoted in this house, who elaborated on this notion that:

“People move because of the wear and tear and anxiety. Because of the gnawing feeling that no matter how hard they work their efforts will yield nothing, that what they build up in one year will be torn down in one day by others. Because of the impression that the future is blocked up, that they might do all right but not their children. Because of the feeling that nothing will change, that happiness and prosperity are possible only somewhere else.”

Lapha eNkomazi, Mbombela, Umjindi, Thaba Chweu and Bushbuckridge.  Emakhazeni, Victor Khanye, Thembisile Hani, Dr JS Moroka, Emalahleni Dipaleseng, Lekwa, Msukaligwa, Mkhondo, Pixley Ka Isaka Seme nase Nkosi Albert  Luthuli.

Sithini isimo sezenhlalakahle? Anjani amanzi, ziyahambeka izindlela, ugesi wokukhanyisa nokudala amathuba okusebenza ukhona yini? kanti senzani ngaye, siphila ngani, silala khuphi, sikhonzaphi, izingane zethu zona zifunda kuphi, kanti futhi zidlale kuphi? Ikhona imithola mpilo?

Sithini kuwena lesisimo esibhekene naso? Sithi mawufakaze ngaso, noma sithi awubophe umthwalo uhambe ungazi laph’ uyophelela khona?

Yiyo ke ingwadla enkulu esibhekene nayo siwuhulumeni. Ngisho emakhaya, kusifundazwe noma kuzwelonke ukuthi sizama njani ukuthi impilo zabantu zenziwe ngcono lapho behlala khona. Senze ukuthi noma kubuhlungu namuhla, babene themba ukuthi kusasa kuzobe kungcono. Ukuthi ithemba ngemisebenzi esiyenzayo ukuthi lokhu ekuqoqile izolo na namhla-nje angeke kusatshalaliswe ngomunye umuntu kusasa. Okwakhiwe ngeke kudilizwe ngumuntu kusasa. Abantwana bethu banelikusasa eliqhakazile, akekho ozobe bela ilifa eliqoqwe lakhiwa ngabazali nokhokho wabo. Izwe angeke libuswe nga madlanga namankentshane, kodwa ngabafazi namadoda aqotho asebenzela imiphakathi ngokungangabazeki.

It is from this perspective that I dedicate the Policy and Budget Speech to the late Dumisane Bomber Ntshangase who dedicated his life to the struggle of South Africa. Bomber was a member of the ANC, SACP, participated in COSATU and a trained Soldier of the MK. Renowned to many for picking up struggles of the ordinary people, especially at Mzinoni Township. He was one of those who exposed the challenges of electricity, water sanitation and the appalling situations people were subjected to live under the Hostel systems and work with all authorities to resolve it. He, himself stayed in a hostel and waged struggles with the other dwellers to get those places to be upgraded into Comprehensive Residential units they are today. Ran a project there catering for orphans within the CRU, a well known activist against any form of corruption. At the age of 47 he was studying with Unisa. A good community member, whose work deserves to be emulated. The name of Bomber Ntshangase is known throughout the country through his opinions that he shared without fail in SABC radios, a true patriot who lived a full life of a revolutionary. He was gunned down and murdered execution style on 4 May 2010 and Buried Sunday, 10 May 2010 at the rural village of Mdokwane, Ophongolo, Kwazulu–Natal.

2009/10 financial year performance 

In the previous policy and Budget Speech we indicated that we will be concluding our housing demand database.

We indicated that in the 15 years of democracy, 143 389 RDP houses were delivered in Mpumalanga alone. 

We also set ourselves to deliver 10 547 housing units to be that year, 4 132 of which were longstanding unfinished houses; 50 units for military veterans; 142 for farm worker housing; 400 for integrated Residential Developments at Thaba Chweu and Emalahleni Municipalities. 

I am glad to announce that we managed to deliver 8 204 housing units, cleared off the 3 746 of the houses that were reported to be long standing unfinished, leaving us with 386 that will be finished this financial year. In the course of the work we discovered another 543 units that were not accounted for in the 4 132. Making the remainder to total to 910 we also delivered 34 of the 50 in the programme targeting war veterans

On 18 July 2010 we joined hands with the world and the nation to celebrate the Mandela Day which teaches us the ideal that each individual has the power to transform the world, the ability to make an imprint to the vulnerable.

On this day, we raised our hands in celebration and renewed commitment to the making of a just society. The beneficiaries of the celebration who are six families are here with us today.

In our resolve to touch the lives of the vulnerable and honour the brevity of our mothers, we dedicated the women’s month by constructing 53 houses in Tekwane North for people with disabilities, orphans, child headed homes and the aged.

We also planned to build six social and economic facilities namely, Community Halls and Child Care Facilities, at Mbombela, Bushbuckridge, Nkomazi, Emalahleni, Govan Mbeki and Mkhondo municipalities. To this we managed to only finish Mbombela, Emalahleni and Govan Mbeki, leaving the rest to be completed this year.

We also promised to use the model of rental stock in Steve Tswete and Emalahleni, the initiating of the BNG pilot in Mashishing and Emalahleni, as well as the converted hostels into family units at Emalahleni to draw valuable experiences that will help us forge ahead into the future. The planned rental stocks were completed and services were put in all the sites that were planned for integrated human settlements (BNG).  

Towards Delivering Integrated Human Settlements 

The previous financial year 2009/10, we indicated that we were going to focus on closing off the previous term approach of settling people where we focus solely on the top structure. We indicated that we will be doing this while planning for the implementation of Integrated Human Settlements in 2010/11 financial year.

Our activities and budget for 2010/11 therefore focus on bringing to reality integrated human settlements in the province.

The Premier has already indicated that the province will create three examples of Integrated Human settlements. As a department and municipalities, we have decided to use Thaba Chweu, Emalahleni, Klarinet and Dipaleseng for this purpose. We are going to partner with financial institutions and developers to deliver Integrated Human Settlements in the said areas.

These settlements will boast full services like water, electricity and business sites infrastructure, and accommodate a total of 2 500 households in bonded up market houses, middle income houses, fully subsidized houses and affordable rental stocks and apartments.

These are three year huge projects that will after completion deliver infrastructure that will be able to accommodate just over 20 000 households in the three identified areas. The Social Cluster has agreed that other amenities like schools, sports and culture, health and social service facilities will be provided in the areas developed to the equate norms and standards required. 

During the course of the next 3 years, 13 more Integrated Human Settlements shall be initiated. The first three of the 16 is envisaged to be completed by 2014.

As we implement the concept of Integrated Sustainable Human Settlements, we are experiencing challenges relating to the availability of suitable land in Municipalities, access to water and electricity as well as existing communities which do not comply with the notion of Integrated Human Settlements.  The inadequate budget to respond to these challenges does not help the situation.

Additional to this is a huge backlog with regard to settlements of households, which is hovering at about 250 000, and in the current rate of delivery at about 10 000 for subsidised units a year.  

We, together with Municipalities, have decided to be innovative going forward. We have decided to put more effort on assisting municipalities to maximize access to land and serviced stands. We shall assist Emakhazeni Municipality to purchase land at Emakhazeni in Nkangala for Human Settlements purposes. Additional to this service 6 089 sites in eight Municipalities, i.e. Steve Tshwete, Emalahleni, Bushbuckridge, Msukaligwa, Mkhando, Pixley Ka Isaka Seme, Mbombela, Thaba Chweu. . 

Further Interventions in areas of special significance

The remaining budget will be used to cater for 8 145 subsidised housing units that will be channeled as follows:
  • 3 404 of which will be used to clear off outstanding projects structured in the old way to deal with upgrading of informal settlements in municipalities, including Mjindi, Emalahleni, Govan Mbeki, Dipaleseng, Pixley Ka isaka Seme, Mbombela, Lekwa, Msukaligwa and Steve Tshwete.
  • 1 669 to cater for rural areas with communal land rights found in Steve Tswete, Thembisile Hani, Nkomazi, Albert Luthuli, Dipaleseng, Pixley Ka Isaka Seme, Bushbuckridge, Thaba Chweu and Mkhondo.
  •  450 to cater for farm worker housing assistance where there are agreements in the areas of Victor Khanye, Umjindi, Emakhazeni, Mkhondo and Thaba Chweu.
  • 50 accounts for those who applied for the stop gap subsidies from the Municipalities of Victor Khanye, Lekwa and Steve Tshwete only. More popularization will have to be done in this regard because many people are not aware of this housing funding product.
  • 522 to assist vulnerable individuals with stands already, 30 of which are war veterans, 100 are people with disability and 42 individual subsidies to households affected by death of guardian.
  • 2 000 is set aside to be build houses using cooperatives, CBO’s and associations through the People’s Housing Process in the areas of Nkomazi, Thaba Chweu, Emalahleni, Govan Mbeki, Albert Luthuli,  Bushbuckridge, Victor Khanye, Dr JS Moroka, Thembisile Hani and Mbombela.
Provision of rental stock and community residential units

The programme of upgrading hostels into Community Residential Units shall continue at Emalahleni, Steve Tshete, Kwazamokuhle, Thaba Chweu, Emakhazeni, Lekwa and Govan Mbeki.

We shall continue to subsidize Housing associations in Steve Tshwete, Govan Mbeki, Mbombela and Emalahleni to assist us in the development and provision of rental stock to people who need places to stay on rental basis. Other municipalities are encouraged to facilitate the establishment of these institutions to assist them to handle rental stock that we will be developing in all municipalities.

Talking about rentals in the province, we have an average of 2 000 disputes between private landlords and tenants that need arbitration every year. We shall continue to fund our rental tribunal to resolve these matters. 

On rectification of the past

We shall finish the remaining long standing unfinished houses of 910 that remain in the previous financial year as accounted for above.  

We shall continue with our task of rectifying houses built between 1994 and 2002 now having structural defects. The 925 houses that have already been assessed in Thaba Chweu, Dipaleseng, Emalahleni, uMjindi and Pixley ka Isaka Seme will be rectified in this financial year.

We shall also rectify 600 houses built pre 1994 that we have assessed in Steve Tshwete, Umjindi, Thaba Chweu, Mbombela and Lekwa and found to be unsafe to live in.

As part of upgrading existing settlements, we shall finally construct the three social amenities that were promised in Bushbuckridge, Mkhondo, and Dipaleseng.

Honourable speaker, Human Settlements planning and implementation has lots of challenges. We currently have untraceable beneficiaries, who create for us a challenge of unoccupied houses all over the province, resulting in illegal occupations through informal markets corrupt means. In this financial year we shall deregister 3 360 untraceable beneficiaries to open a way for other to access houses legally.

Our response to water and other basic services challenges 

Water scarcity, water pollution and overuse of ground water resources are survival issues in many countries and regions, and many hold that this problem is even more critical than the threat of climate change. Mpumalanga is affected by all of these. 

More so we know that the water which underpins development and growth is a limited resource. In order to support the economic growth we require to address poverty in the Province, concerted action and dedication will be required to ensure that we optimally utilize our available water to meet the demands of all sectors equitably.”

In the previous year we have not done so well in addressing water and electricity challenges in our Municipalities due to the administrative processes of the transfer of function from one department to the other.  The responsibility has been dully transferred, while we still suffer capacity and resource challenges.  

Working together with Water Affairs, Rand water, the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs and municipalities, we initiated the process to analyse the challenges faced by municipalities in the provision of sanitation services and clean water to communities. This process will be completed in the second quarter of this financial year 2010/11. This will allow the development of a structured plan for the district municipalities, province, and national to assist the municipalities as water services authorities.

In the meantime, municipalities continue to do their level best to provide this service to communities through various means, including water tanks and jo-jo tanks. For this reason the province will add to the most stressed Municipalities water tankers and 75 jo-jo tanks. The department will also assist municipalities to eradicate the water services backlog in at least 20 settlements by the end of this financial year.

2010/11 financial year budget proposal 

I therefore present the budget of R 1 197 494 000 for the Department of Human Settlements (Vote 13) as outlined below:  

Programme Allocated Amounts 2010/11 R’000

Administration

R 88 433 000

Housing Needs, Research and Planning

R 70 652 000

Housing Development and Implementation

R 1 031 868 000

Housing Assets Management

R 6 541 000

Total

R 1 197 494 000

 

Honourable members, the budget of R 1 031 868 000 allocated for our Programme three; Housing Development and Implementation, includes an amount of R 975 863 000 which is mainly focusing on our core mandate, Integrated Human Settlements delivery. 

The amount of R 6 541 000 is transfers to the four housing associations namely, Greater Middelburg, Mbombela, Govan Mbeki and eMalahleni Housing Associations. Their role is to support the department in delivering on rental and affordable stock.  

With our strengthened machinery and cooperation shown by all partners within the industry, this budget will see the delivery of 9 616 houses in the current financial year. We are resolute that these funds will be spent as planned and as prudent as possible to deliver the much needed shelter to our communities.  

This budget will go a long way in helping the department to master rules of the game, to deliver quality sustainable Human Settlements.

Conclusion 

May I take this opportunity to extend my profound gratitude to my colleagues in the Executive Council, the chairperson of the portfolio committee on Human Settlements and Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Honourable SPD Skhosana and the rest of the members, the HOD, Mr David Dube and staff.  

Let me not forget to thank the municipalities, especially the mayors and the councilors designated responsibility to guide us on the needs of the society.  I know that we agreed to allocate resources proportional according our demand data base. Due to our internal capacity challenges within both of our institutions, it has since proven to be a challenge, but we promise to rectify this in the coming years. 

My special thanks to the Premier who has given me a responsibility in a department that exposes me more closer to our communities’ real challenges. I learnt one thing Speaker and the Premier that our people never cry while braving these conditions. I have seen them all without fail cry only at the end when at last they hold that key, open the house switch on the light and open the tap and see water running out. They say the tears are for those who are still in the queue enduring those unbearable conditions and wonder when they will also taste this fruit of freedom that they now have in their own hands.

These are the humble people who have never destroyed anyone’s property or vandalise or set ablaze any public institutions or building. They are grateful for the little our resources can do, but vigilant against those who seek to abuse them and participate in activities to undermine service delivery.

“Together we will Do More” in developing sustainable integrated human settlements.

Ngiyabonga

Issued by Department of Human Settlements, Mpumalanga Provincial Government


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