Hon Chairperson, hon Minister, hon members of the NCOP and guests, the hon Minister told us everything about the positive side of Human Settlements but what happens in reality? Where are we going with Human Settlements in South Africa? How many more houses will be built? How many more corrupt people and contractors will get involved in the housing activities in this department?
Hon Minister, in 2011, in this House, you said you would speed up the building of houses and wipe out the backlog in the department. I am afraid you are not reaching the target you set yourself. The department underspent approximately R4 billion of the budget in the previous year. The Eastern Cape and Limpopo have failed to spend R578 million of the funds allocated to them. Only R2 billion of the R7 billion allocated to the urban settlement development grant, USDG, was spent. Almost a billion rand is wasted on rectification every year.
Today, thousands of beneficiaries are still without title deeds and houses. In eThekwini, only 30% of the 2012-2013 houses were being built. The target was also reduced from the original 3 950 to 3 613 houses. There are almost 410 000 people living in 150 000 shacks across the city. More than 1 002 officials in the Department of Human Settlements were found guilty after investigation by the director-general. More than R20 billion is linked to alleged fraud and corruption. The director- general asked for a forensic investigation by the Special Investigating Unit.
Houses are falling apart within months of being built. Corruption and fraud go hand in hand with the transferring of houses to legal owners - and you know it. There were more than 2 877 complaints between July and September 2012 from house owners to the Public Protector.
A total of 93% of the Western Cape human settlements budget is spent on people earning less than R3 500 per month. The Western Cape also leads the country with 99,1% of households having access to piped water and 96,9% to toilet facilities. They have reduced their title deeds backlog to 28% and have issued over 20 000 title deeds in the process.
The head of the Northern Cape department of health, Gugulethu Matlaopane, refused to explain a mysterious R1 million transfer to her account from a building contractor who allegedly accepted millions of rands in municipality payments for housing that he failed to build. According to the report, the contractor, Frank Khotso Khasu, completed only four of 3 500 houses. Hon Minister, the DA believes your intentions were positive and good when you mentioned and promised South Africa that you would fight corruption in your department. I am afraid that from all the oversight visits we conducted as the NCOP across South Africa, it was clear that your promises failed and disappeared in the mist. Wherever we arrive in South Africa, houses are falling apart, people are unhappy and millions of rands of budget money are being wasted by municipalities.
Let us correct the past. Beneficiaries should have their title deeds for the land, even before the houses are built. Let us help to see that better and more sustainable houses are built in South Africa for South African citizens. [Applause.]