N2 Gateway Projects & Pending Court Case: Minister’s briefing

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Meeting report

HOUSING PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
14 November 2007
N2 GATEWAY PROJECTS & PENDING COURT CASE: MINISTER’S BRIEFING

Chairperson:
Ms Z Kota (ANC)

Documents handed out:
N2 Gateway Presentation

Audio recording of meeting

SUMMARY
The Minister of Housing briefed the Committee on the progress of the N2 Gateway housing project. This had been running for the past three years, and there was constant briefing, in particular because Cabinet approval was being sought to work outside the policy parameters and test the new policy the Department had adopted. The project had generated huge media interest, and although there was significant support, not all supporters were fully aware of the whole background and were sometimes not on the same track as government. The new housing plan aimed to embrace the new vision for the next five years, and the Department had expanded the mandate from just dealing with low cost housing to encompassing the entire spectrum of the property market. It aimed to promote a non-racial integrated society where the infrastructure was aligned with the amenities, and which addressed interventions on poverty. Members raised questions on the numbers of units, and whether this was correct, the time frames that people should be staying in the temporary housing, whether this would be turned into more permanent housing, the reasons the Department had decided to proceed with the court cases, who was involved in it, and how it was intended to solve the capacity problem, and whether extension of the houses was permitted. The plans for the Delft 7 to 9 areas were examined, as also the reasons why the Department was now looking for land, and the mandates of the contractors, and the responses from the banks. Members asked if the Government had been able to identify the groups causing disruption, whether beneficiaries had been or would be removed from the lists, and if there was any time frame for the completion of the project. The Chairperson stated that the Committee would be meeting with the Mayor to discuss the shortage of land as a result of removal of allocated land from the Project. It was clarified that the original plan to build medium-density housing had been altered to build high-density housing that was now under construction.

MINUTES
Ms Lindiwe Sisulu, Minister for Housing, informed the Committee that she would give them an update on the N2 Gateway project, and that she appreciated their support. Many of the matters flowing from the project were still work in progress and as such some of her answers could not be definitive.

She said that the N2 Gateway Project had been running for the past three years but she was not going into the rationale for having begun the project, as the Committee would be well aware of it. During those three years the Department had constantly briefed MinMEC, Cabinet and the Committee. The Minister was seeking the approval of the Cabinet to work outside the policy parameters and test the new policy the Department had adopted.

The Minister recapped only the main points relating to the N2 Gateway project. There had been huge media interest the project generated. As a result people interested in the poor emerged, and although they had not been so fully supportive of the poor in other disasters, she was nonetheless grateful for their support and partnership with government. However, many of those who commented to the media had jumped on the bandwagon at the end and as a result took what was being done out of context. She added that it would have been easier if they had been on the same track from the very beginning.

She pointed out that the new housing plan aimed to embrace the new vision for the next five years. It had allowed the Department to expand its mandate from just dealing with low cost housing to encompassing the entire spectrum of the property market. The key focus of the plan was to promote the achievement of a non-racial integrated society where the infrastructure was aligned with the amenities so as to avoid areas of poor sanitisation. The housing projects were also part of the government intervention on poverty. She showed slides of the fires on the N2, the current dismal pictures of the N2 and the futuristic vision for the N2 Gateway project.

Discussion
Mr A Steyn (ANC) asked if it had crossed the minds of the Ministry that the people trying to frustrate the project were the ones that were aware that they would not be benefiting from it at all. When the initial survey was done the Department had identified around 1 700 beneficiaries but currently the number of people in the informal settlement in need of housing was about 6 000.

The Minister replied that she suspected that this could be one of the reasons, but she could not say that for sure. The Department had contracted an audit company to audit the number of beneficiaries, which had found that although the initial number was 1500, which subsequently rose to 3 500. There were still some 6 000 people waiting for accommodation. The Department was concerned to prevent those people who wanted to jump the queue, especially when people in Langa had been waiting for the government to deliver houses for the past 25 to 30 years. They had been warned by the residents of Langa that people would flood into areas where any form of building was going on, and they had to find a way to deal with this.

Mr Steyn asked for the time frame that people were going to stay in the temporary housing the department had erected.

A Member asked if the temporary housing would be turned into something more permanent or if the Department would be moving people in the Temporary Relocation Areas (TRA)

The Minister replied that the TRAs were a problem because when the Department had moved people there, it had promised as a matter of policy that they should not be dislocated from their community for more than a year. However, at the time the Department was not aware that it was going to be bogged down by the problems now faced. This had been one of the reasons the Department had decided to proceed with the court cases to try to achieve a legal solution that would allow them to deal with the rights of the people who had willingly co-operated. She said that if the people staying in the TRAs were the ones who had demonstrated, she could understand their frustrations as there had been protracted delay.

A Member asked how it was intended to solve the capacity problem

The Minister replied that capacity was indeed a problem and when the residents of N2 requested that the Department build houses for everyone so that no one would have to leave, this was not possible. The land would simply not cope with the capacity and this would lead to areas full of burst pipes and poor sanitation, when in fact the Department was trying to provide a more durable investment.

A Member asked if the beneficiaries were allowed to extend the houses.

The Minister replied the beneficiaries were allowed to extend, provided that they did not build shacks, but structures that were approved by the Council. Their plan was to give people in Phase 3 single houses with enough space to enable them to extend to accommodate the larger households. The problem with the previous RDP houses was that these were so small that extension was impossible.

A Member asked if they were going to build more permanent structures in the Delft 7 to 9 areas or if this was just going to be used for temporary accommodation.

Mr Minister replied that on Delft 7 to 9 the Department was building TRAs on land that would have otherwise been used for formal housing. It was being used for the TRAs because it was land that the Department already owned and had serviced, and they were hoping to turn it into something more permanent so that people could make use of the land.

Mr Steyn asked why the Department was looking for land now because he thought that this project had been running for a long time and should have had land allocated to it already.

The Minister replied that she was glad that Mr Steyn had asked the question. The reason why the Department was now looking for land to build houses was that the new administration, on taking office, had decided to take back land that had been initially allocated for the N2 Gateway project.

Mr G Schneemann (ANC) remarked that he was aware that there were some areas that were progressing very well in the N2 Gateway project, but he wanted to know the status of the other areas.

The Minister replied that the main focus has always been on Joe Slovo, but that there was tremendous success in New Rest and Delft. In Delft the Department had been building some very nice houses and had even invited the Committee to come and see the buildings. The first of the houses had been handed over to the new owner, a lady in her 80’s who had never owned a house, with the help of a DA member of the Portfolio Committee.

Mr Schneemann asked if all the residents of the N2 were involved in the court case.

The Minister replied that the case involved only those people in the Joe Slovo area that were unwilling to move. The reason why they had gone the court route was to get a clear statement from the Court as to the rights and responsibilities. The Department had a constitutional mandate to build houses and she was of the opinion that the law weighed heavily in their favour. They hoped the case was going to show the people of Joe Slovo that the houses being built were in their best interest.

Mr Schneemann asked what the position was on the contractors, because the Minister had mentioned them in her budget speech, and whether the contractors were going to be receiving instructions from the Minister.

The Minister replied that the companies that had not complied with requirements would not receive any contracts from the government. However, to be fair to them they had requested time to upscale their processes, and the Ministry was still waiting on them. The company that had indicated that it was going to upscale was the one currently working in Joe Slovo.

A Member asked if there had been any responses from the people, whether people were moving into the houses and if there had been any response from the banks.

The Minister replied that the banks were complaining that the Department was trying to squeeze them in order that the Department be able cross subsidise for the project, but there was a Memorandum of Agreement with them and they had agreed to help with the gap in housing. So when the people of Joe Slovo marched to FNB the Government, not FNB, was the one that lost out. She added that the Department had gone the mortgage route so as to take advantage of the relationship they had with the banks in order to build better houses for the people. The government had allocated only R38 000 per house and this was not enough to build a decent house. The Department had been trying to have discussions with the residents of N2 to explain to them that this was the only way to ensure a better product for everyone..

Mr J Masango (DA) asked if there was any move by the government to use any form of technical intelligence to identify those groups that were disrupting democracy, because it was impossible for them to achieve success in one area and not the other areas.

Mr Steyn asked the Minister if she had removed any beneficiaries from the list, since she had threatened to do so in the media.

The Minister replied that she never threatened to remove any beneficiaries from the list. She specifically mentioned that she was concerned with the people who were causing mayhem and these were the people she was going to remove from the list.

Mr Schneemann asked if there was any time frame for the completion of the project. He was pleased that the Minister had brought up the issue of the land that had been taken, as this had not been clear before. He was of the opinion that the Committee should intervene in the lack of sufficient land.

The Chairperson remarked that there have been some highlights of the N2 Gateway project, but it would have been better and would have avoided a lot of problems if there had been a set timeframe for people being able to take possession of their new houses. The Chairperson added that the Committee was going to see the Mayor in order to help them with their plight for land.

Mr Steyn added that as an alternative they could request that the Mayor appear before the Committee.

The Minister commented that she was very heartened by the continuous support the Committee showed, and hoped that this would continue.

Mr Steyn asked if the Ministry had retained anything from their original plan since the Minister had kept referring to a futuristic approach.

The Minister replied that there were a lot of changes from the original plan. For instance, the first plan was to build medium density houses but they soon realised that these were very expensive during Phase 1, and had changed to the high density houses now being constructed.

The meeting was adjourned.

 

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