Chairperson, may I preface my speech by saluting Sheena Duncan for her role in the struggle as a member of the Black Sash. May her soul rest in peace.
In this august House I greet the Minister of Human Settlements, Comrade Tokyo Sexwale; the Minister of Public Works, Comrade Geoff Doidge, Deputy Minister Bogopane-Zulu, MECs present and Members of Parliament. It is a great pleasure to welcome the officials of the department, led by Director- General Thabane Zulu; the members of the Ministry, led by Ms Tilly Gasela; the Chief of Staff, and honoured guests. I recognise the presence of the chairperson of the select committee, hon Pat Sibande.
This debate on the Budget Votes is taking place at a time when all roads in South Africa are leading to the 2010 Fifa World Cup. During this year we will also be celebrating the Freedom Charter, our historic document.
President Jacob Zuma continues to urge all of us to fast-track housing delivery. Our ability to fulfil this mandate lies in our being able to work together faster, better and in a co-ordinated fashion, as this collective, with all relevant stakeholders.
This clarion call is being made to leaders at all levels of society. These are captains of industry, community-based organisations, nongovernmental organisations, religious leaders and contractors. We call upon them to roll up their sleeves and partner with government to provide shelter to our people. Working together we can do more.
The coming on board of the banks, as mentioned by the KZN MEC for Human Settlements and Public Works, is a positive step.
Last year we acknowledged the importance of making the people an integral part of our planning as well as implementation. We are still firmly committed to this approach, as it is the only way that will enable us to realise our dream, and that of many South Africans who are anxiously waiting to have a physical address.
We have committed ourselves to moving away from the ethos of chasing numbers when building homes for our people; we will rather focus more and more on the quality of the units that we build. Our vision is to build homes that we can be proud of and that will contribute to changing the lives of our people for the better.
The accelerated delivery of housing calls for the streamlining of funding mechanisms. All housing grants, namely the provincial infrastructure grant and the municipal infrastructure grant, must be consolidated into a single grant. This means that there is a need for more effective co-ordination as far as the servicing of land, the provision of bulk infrastructure, and basic services such as water and sanitation are concerned.
Our visit with the Minister to Port Alfred demonstrates how the lack of bulk infrastructure can frustrate the efforts of municipalities to deliver houses to our people. Thanks to the intervention of MEC Mabandla and our Minister in unblocking this project, the people of Thornhill are now very happy with the first 500 units agreed upon. [Applause.] We are also hoping that the 500 000 units will be completed in due course. A solution to the challenge of bringing water to this area has to be found. What is critical is that these are houses of good quality that have been built in a rural area. We have spoken at length about the new mandate.
What we are busy with right now is ensuring that all systems are in place, and that there is buy-in from each and every one who has something to do with the provision of human settlements.
In other words, we must in this process move away from the apartheid spatial framework, where houses for the poorest of the poor were built in areas far from towns. Our call is to develop megacities, as envisaged in the Breaking New Ground strategy. Whenever houses are built, there should be parks, clinics, schools, shopping centres, community halls, police stations, etc.
What should also be borne in mind is that government-subsidised housing is indeed an asset creation. This is a value-adding exercise in terms of economic growth, for many families are being rekindled as they now have a place called "home". It brings back the dignity of our people. When building materials are bought and houses constructed, it leads to the booming of the construction industry. In other words, human settlement provision enhances the development of the manufacturing industry.
According to our Constitution and the Bill of Rights, all people have the right to adequate housing. In South Africa there is a need to overcome the imbalances of the past. This government supports the vulnerable sector in our society. Our visit to the Lubala village in the Eastern Cape with the Deputy President on the anti-poverty campaign is a case in point. It is very clear that it is very expensive to bring water to the poorest of the poor, but it can be done through proper co-ordination.
Le yimfazwe ebaluleke kakhulu yokulwa nendlala apho amasebe karhulumente nee-arhente zikarhulumente kunye noosomashishini bafunqula kunye.
UTata uMathe obethetha kulaa mbizo ibiphaya eLubala, uza kumkhumbula uMphathiswa wePhondo, uye wathi laa ndawo yindawo ehlupheke kakhulu yaye nezinga lemfundo liphantsi. Akukho bongikazi, akukho zititshala kwaye kunzima ukusa abantwana ezikolweni ngoba izikolo zikude. Kufuneka abantu bahlawule izithuthi zokusa abantwana ezikolweni ze babahlawulele imali yokugxamesa kwezo ndawo ngeli lixa abantu bala ndawo bengabantu abangathathi ntweni.
Kodwa ngoku abantu bala ndawo bayavuya ngoba urhulumente use zonke iinkonzo ngexesha elinye.Phaya bekhukho abaPhathiswa, kukho amaSekela-baphathiswa, kukho nabaPhathiswa bePhondo; bonke bayancadisana. ISebe leMisebenzi yoLuntu belikhona liqeqesha abantu; iSebe lezeNtlalo yoLuntu likhona lisakha izindlu; iSebe leMfundo linika abantwana inkxaso-mali - zonke iinkonzo zisiya endaweni enye ngexesha elinye. Yile nto urhulumente ayifunayo ke le.
Ndinethemba lokuba xa siqhubela phambili lo msebenzi mkhulu siza kuwenza sonke ngexesha elinye. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraphs follows.)
[This is the most important anti-poverty campaign because it is where the government departments, the agents and businesspeople are working together.
Mr Mathe, who was speaking in that meeting in Lubala village - the hon Minister of the province will remember him - said that that place is very poor and the level of education is very low. There are no nurses, no teachers and it is difficult to take learners to school because the schools are too far. People must pay for transport to take their children to school and again they must pay for lodging in those places whereas these people are not working at all.
But today people of that place are happy because the government provided them with all the basic services, all at the same time. There were Ministers, Deputy Ministers, and Premiers, all of them working together. The Department of Labour was there and they were training people; the Department of Human Settlements was also there busy building houses; the department of education gave bursaries to learners - all the services were given to the people at the same time. That is what government wants.
I hope when we continue to do this important work we will do it as a collective and at the same time.]
As we carry this torch forward, we are committed to building partnerships with all those who are ready to hit the road running. As we dream of a South Africa free of poverty, free of slums, the Department of Human Settlements is calling on everyone to be the agents of change in their communities and in their neighbourhoods. Let us cross this bridge of transformation together.
Unfortunately, the delivery of these homes cannot happen for all at the same time; hence the importance of the upgrading of informal settlements, as was explained by the Minister. What we also want to emphasise concerning this matter is that while people have unfortunately had to be moved from homes that were built on river banks or on dolomitic land, there is no reason why people should be removed from areas where the informal settlement is situated in a proper place; we can do in situ upgrading.
What is also a key factor, in terms of human settlements, is active participation of beneficiaries. The People's Housing Process, PHP, is one instrument that puts people at the centre of housing development. This instrument consists of two processes.
There is the managed PHP, where contractors or developers assist people to build houses, as was demonstrated during my visit to Philippi with MEC Madikizela, as he said earlier on. Minister Tokyo Sexwale visited another managed PHP in New Rest. This is a beautiful project which also shows that managed PHP can give us better products.
What we are saying here is that we must also encourage the PHP where people do save, build their own homes, and agree on the size and quality of the house. So, all forms of the PHP must be supported. We also urge municipalities, in particular, to ensure that the PHP is taken seriously.
Regarding provinces, we ask that they set aside in their budgets a certain allocation specifically for the PHP. It is a process that is not supported very much, but we hope that, with a call from this level, there will be some movement to assist our people with regard to the issue of the PHP. The other issue that I want to highlight is the issue of social housing - that is, rental housing stock - because it is our idea that if we also move in a big way in regard to building the housing rental stock, it will assist provinces in dealing with the backlog. What is critical in this area is proper financial and technical support to municipalities, which will be a key factor in rolling out this programme. We should also revisit the issue of requesting Treasury to give us a capital injection so that we are able to do this work in a responsible manner.
In this process we encourage provinces and municipalities to bear in mind the need to densify in order to deal with the issue of scarcity of land. This means building houses of four blocks or whatever in regard to the rental stock.
It is also important that we revisit the issue of land use management. Our goal is to continue refurbishing dilapidated buildings in inner cities in order to integrate our society. Hence, we are proud of some inner city development projects, particularly the projects in Cosmos City and Emerald Sky in the Eastern Cape and other beautiful projects that are taking shape in KwaZulu-Natal.
What we are saying is that there are beautiful programmes that are taking place in all provinces which we need to emulate. We need to emulate contractors that are building houses of good quality. We must put contractors that give us bad quality houses on the blacklisting register so that they don't get contracts from government until such time as they give us a better product.
In conclusion, I want to remind provinces that we are no longer the Department of Housing; we are now the Department of Human Settlements. As we plan our projects, we must begin to reflect this element of integration, supported by all strategic departments.
We also want to make an appeal to premiers, in particular, because in areas where premiers support this ethos of human settlements, there is a difference. In KZN, they are very lucky. I'm not saying that other provinces don't do that, but we want to see it happening. We are saying that if premiers are at the centre of understanding human settlements, then Treasury will understand it too, and we will see a difference in housing delivery.
We wish Bafana Bafana success in their attempt to win the 2010 Fifa World Cup. Thank you. [Applause.]