PREMIER'S SPEECH
MEC Fish Mahlalela
Honoured Guests
Ladies and gentlemen
It always gives us great pleasure to officiate at the opening of housing projects around the country. But today, we are particularly pleased to be here with you to participate in the launch of the hand-over of the Emjindini project, a joint venture with the public sector.
We are also pleased that not only will we be handing over the houses to our people, but we will also be handing over title deeds to go with them, mostly to elderly citizens some of whom have been on the waiting list since 1983.
To date more 1 150 houses have been built and for that we are grateful to the people of this township, the private sector and the local council. We hope we are echoing Mr Sipho Hadebe's sentiments when we say this government is about delivery.
More importantly, however, is the fact that today is an indication that when our Commander-in-chief, President Thabo Mbeki, commanded us to get back to work for a better life, we listened. That command, you will remember, came shortly after our people, in their millions and without hesitation, renewed the mandate of the ANC to govern our country.
It was on June 2 when the poorest of the poor said they trust the ANC to help them out of their conditions of misery.
When the women of our country mandated us to continue with the struggle for their upliftment and emancipation.
Our people, both black and white, mandated us to remain firm in the pursuit of our vision of a non-racial society and the important goal of national reconciliation.
Ladies and gentlemen, it was then that people like Mr Hadebe directed us to move forward faster with our programme for reconstruction and development so that the goal of a better life for all is achieved sooner rather than later.
On behalf of the ANC, President Mbeki pledged to the people of our country,
our Continent and the world that we will, under his direction, remain loyal to
the directives the people have given and ensure that their will is done.
We were fully conscious of the fact that the magnificent
patience of our people was in part, driven by their knowledge that, consistent
with its traditions, the ANC would approach the exercise of power without any
arrogance, with humility, with a deep sense of responsibility to ensure that, as
a people, we act together to build a South Africa which truly belongs to all who
live in it, both black and white.
Concluding his remarks at that historic occasion the President said the time
has now come that we go back to work!
And back to work we went. These are the fruits of that labour. Today we are able to say to the people of Amsterdam, the faith and confidence you placed in us on June 2 was not misplaced. Let me hasten to say that a lot still needs to be done.
We are on the brink of a new beginning with a chance to build on our previous successes and begin to launch shelter provision in a much more integrated manner.
In the past five years we laid a solid foundation having moved from acute shortage of homes, the proliferation of informal settlements to a position where we can safely say that we have made gains by laying a framework that has gone a long way towards ironing out the creases around the acquisition of home for the poor.
The next term will see greater focus on ensuring improved quality of housing built both in terms of the housing constructed and the built environment created in new residential areas.
This will be in line with the principles of integrated and co-ordinated development to ensure maximum private and public sector investment in well located land next to areas of social and economic activities.
We will continue to look for alternative methods of garnering financial support to augment the subsidy grant. To this end innovative and more creative ways of amassing savings in communities will be investigated with a view of applying these models to top up the grant.
It is important that households, including individuals, take part in housing acquisition.
It is important to dispel the notion that government provides everything. While we do acknowledge that support is necessary as a means of intervention and helping out those who do not have the means, this is merely an outstretched helping hand to make sure that the quality of life of our people is improved.
Housing finance interventions are a necessity to protect the poor from the harsh economic realities of fluctuating inflation and interest rates.
For this reason, the current phase will see the growth of alternative housing finance products including micro loans that are cheaper than conventional mortgage bond for low income earners to enhance their housing units and provide protection against interest rate increases.
For the next five years we will ensure that:
The backlog is significantly reduced;
Alleviate poverty and improve the quality of life by
providing access to basic services and within the means of the available
resources;
Increase the proportion of rental stock and provide tenure diversification;
Upgrading of existing informal settlements, where appropriate replacing shacks
with houses and providing serves;
Adopting a differentiated approach to meet the specific needs of the poor including tenure requirements, migratory patterns, household size and affordability levels;
In addition, we will focus on rural development. Specifically, adopting a shift in emphasis to rural development in all our programmes by adopting a rural strategy, which will foster co-ordination of all rural infrastructure development programmes.
This will include a clear definition of rural settlements and set standards appropriate to type of settlement to guide infrastructure development and ensure affordability.
It will also focus on economic development and ensure affordability.
It will also focus on economic development, job creation and capacity building.
Because we recognise that government alone cannot carry the task of reconstructing and developing our country alone, we intend to foster and promote public private partnerships by involving the private sector.
Government is establishing suitable instruments for infrastructure development collaboration, co-ordination of public sector programmes and policy enhancement to accommodate changing circumstances in both the public and the private sector.
We intend to promote a healthy and competitive industry, which delivers value for money in line with international best practice, and promote the participation and growth of emerging small and micro enterprises.
While the central strategic thrust of growth and development of infrastructure programmes contains the key to sustainable employment and human resource development, this thrust can only yield results over a sustained period.
We shall not rest until all our people are properly housed.
We shall not rest until all our children have shelter, proper education, adequate healthcare and decent schooling. How can we rest?
We want to wish the people involved in this project well and hope that in the not too distant future we will be again invited to open another social housing project.
Thank you.