Chairperson, the SA Social Security Agency undertakes an assessment of applicants for social relief of distress, SRD, to make sure that they meet the requirements of the Social Assistance Act of 2004 and regulations promulgated in August 2008.
An application form is completed for each applicant and supporting documents to verify information must be attached to the application. Applicants must be South African citizens, permanent residents or refugees with insufficient means to meet their families' most basic needs.
The following categories of persons qualify as recipients of SRD: refugees who have refugee status; a person awaiting payment of an approved grant; a person who has been assessed as being unfit for work for six months; a person who is not in receipt of maintenance from a parent or a spouse; a child to a breadwinner who has just passed away where the recipient or the applicant must have applied for the grant - applicants cannot merely insist that they want to qualify because their breadwinner has passed away, they must have applied before asking for SRD; a person whose family's breadwinner has been admitted to an institution funded by the state, like a prison, a psychiatric hospital, an old age home, a rehabilitation centre for substance abuse or a child and youth care centre; a person that has been affected by a disaster where that area had been defined as a disaster area and is under the management of the Disaster Management Act, Act 57 of 2002; and persons where refusal of the application of the SRD may cause undue hardship.
We need to specify that the previous Minister, Zola Skweyiya, made a special proclamation with regard to the regulation that allowed children of school-going age to obtain school uniforms when they are in need of uniforms. He did this because they were recipients of the grant and that automatically caused them not to qualify, but the promulgation ensured that the provision also included them. Thank you.
Chairperson, I would like to thank the Deputy Minister for her reply. This problem is a very serious one. While visiting the border last year, we were told by security forces that people were crossing the border at various points just to come and collect the grant, buy groceries and cross back again. How will the Minister address that type of problem?
That is obviously a totally different question as it has to do with border control and related aspects. It is, of course, up to the Deputy Minister if she wishes to respond.
Chairperson, I am going to be very brief.
Security forces are part of the state. They cannot just observe people claiming the grant or SRD and then crossing our borders. There are criteria that apply to people who qualify for the grant.
So, if they are really security forces, they must report on fraud. I think we all know that the Department of Social Development has a telephone number where fraud can be reported. Also, we should take into consideration that there are sometimes issues of human rights and poverty that affect people across the borders of South Africa. Thank you.
Chairperson, I would like to inform the Deputy Minister that we have found - especially before the elections - ward councillors' signatures on blank application forms for grants and food parcels. I would like to ask the Deputy Minister whether the Minister has been made aware of such irregularities and whether any action has been taken against those involved.
The second part of Question 38 refers to "any form of abuse". I would like the Minister to explain to me how service providers of food parcels are regulated. We have found that there are front companies that buy from suppliers and then sell the food parcels to the SA Social Security Agency, Sassa, at prices that make my little bit of hair stand on end. I would like to know whether action would be taken if we gave the Deputy Minister the names of such service providers. Thank you.
Chairperson, I think it would be good for us all to fight corruption. If anyone has information about corrupt practices, it should be presented to the department. There is nothing the department can do if it does not have information. We have said that we need to work together to fight corruption.
There has been a problem with food parcels. What we are trying to do right now is ensure that we have a standard amount for food parcels so that we don't have people who have expensive food parcels. Issues of nutrition, distance and so forth are going to be taken into consideration in an attempt to ensure that we address the problems that we are experiencing.
With regard to prior elections, I don't know what the member is talking about. It would also have been much easier if we had those forms that were signed by councillors.
Engagement with provinces on reducing housing backlog and creating sustainable, integrated communities
24. Ms M P Themba (ANC) asked the Minister of Human Settlements:
(1) Whether he has engaged the provinces on finding innovative ways to reduce the current housing backlog and create sustainable, integrated communities; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details;
(2) whether the measures that the provinces are putting in place are satisfactory; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
(3) whether it is necessary to engage provinces in this regard; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details? CO91E
Chairperson, yes, we have had a series of engagements with provinces and municipalities in dealing with the matter the member has raised. I must also say that the issue of the housing backlog has a history. What this government is committed to doing is exactly what the Freedom Charter wants us to do - to provide houses, security and comfort.
I'm happy that you have been part of this process of this department in which we are delivering housing in the Mbombela Municipality. We are not only building houses, but ensuring that there are clinics, schools and a crche. At that development you would see that there is a crche and a multipurpose centre.
I also want to say to you that we do have a programme that we have revitalised to ensure that we speak to the issue of the housing backlog. We have intensified the rental stock. We are trying to ensure that informal settlements are upgraded. We have what you call in situ upgrading of informal settlements.
In the light of that, we are also continuing with our pilot projects. The N2 Gateway is one example. The Zanemvula project is another example. We are also promoting what we call community residential units, CRUs. So, at the end of the day, we encourage co-ops in terms of housing. We are also encouraging members of the community to build housing for themselves - the People's Housing Process, PHP. That programme is going ahead and we are ensuring that we are rolling it out in all provinces.
What we also want to say is that the provision of housing is not the responsibility of government alone. We need partnerships. We need the private sector to come in, and we are having discussions with big companies to ensure that they come on board in terms of the provision of housing. We want NGOs and CPOs to be involved, as well as individual members of the community to work with government. We are saying, "Working together, we can do more." I thank you.
UMBHEXESHI OYINTLOKO WEBHUNGA: Enkosi, Sekela-Mphathiswa, ngempendulo. Njengoko sonke siyingxamele le nkqubo, kananjalo usazi ukuba abantu abanazindlu kwaye sizama ukuphucula iimeko ematyotyombeni, ingaba isebe lakho liya kubavumela na oomasipala ukuba nabo babe ngabakhi okanye le nto sithi zii-developers ngesiLungu?
USEKELA-MPHATHISWA WOBONELELO NGEENDAWO ZOKUHLALA: Lungu elibekekileyo, siyabavumela oomasipala ukuba bokhe izindlu, kodwa kukho oomasipala abangenako ukuwenza lo msebenzi kuba unzima kubo.
Oomasipala, ingakumbi ezidolophini ezinkulu ezifana noo- ... (Translation of isiXhosa paragraphs follows.)
[The CHIEF WHIP OF THE COUNCIL: Thank you for your response, Deputy Minister. I would like to know whether, as we are looking forward to this project knowing that people have no houses and that we are also trying to improve conditions in informal settlements, your department will allow municipalities to be constructors as well, what we call developers in English?
Hon member, we do allow municipalities to build houses, but there are those municipalities that are unable to perform that duty because of their incapacity.
Especially the metro municipalities like...]
... Durban, City of Cape Town, Mandela Municipality and others are able to build houses. But it is difficult to have a one-size-fits-all approach. We want to assist those municipalities that are not able to do so. But there are particular criteria we follow to allow a municipality that is at a particular stage to build houses.
Kodwa siyathetha nabo. Kangangokuba, siza kuyizimasa le nkomfa ye-Salga, SA Local Government Association, izayo ngoba zisimisele ukusebenzisana noomasipala ekuphuculeni intlalontle yabantu. Enkosi. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
[We are engaging with municipalities. And as such, we will attend the Salga, SA Local Government Association, conference because we are determined to work together with municipalities to improve the welfare of the people. Thank you.]
Chair, I'd like to ask the Deputy Minister if a physical audit has been done of all the houses that are supposed to have been built. Why I ask this is because at a certain municipality 200 houses were supposed to be built, but when there was an actual physical count there were only 180 houses. The municipality hadn't built the other 20 houses because they needed the funds for other things. Thank you.
That is obviously not a follow-up question. It needs investigation on its own.
Into esifuna ukuyithetha yeyokuba - uxolo ... [What we want to say is that - excuse me ...] ... because you're not speaking English. What I want to say is that we want to monitor every aspect of what is being delivered. We have a legal and monitoring unit in the department which investigates whether the projects that a municipality says it has are in place and what the challenges are that they are facing on the ground. We are continually monitoring that so that, at the end of day, we want the government to get value for money. Thank you.
Chairperson, only a lady could get my name right the first time.
With regard to the first section of the question, I'd like to ask the Minister whether, in the whole process of determining the current backlog, new housing databases were put together in each local municipality, and whether a deadline has been set for that. When will the Minister get all the details? Are they being fed to the Minister? And when will the results be made available to us?
And, then, something that really worries me about housing. The Minister spoke about a programme on upgrading houses, and I presume that was for putting in ceilings in the houses or perhaps for extending the very small houses from earlier years. We have a problem with the maintenance of houses. Is there a programme in terms of which people can be encouraged to maintain their houses or improve them and have the responsibility of protecting their own assets because those houses are now in their names? Thank you.
Chairperson, once a person has a house, particularly if a person has a title deed, that person becomes an owner. Then the maintenance becomes the responsibility of that particular person. The issue of maintenance arose from the issue of rental stock because in that case the property still doesn't belong to you - it either belongs to the municipality or to government, so the maintenance there should continue because you are renting.
But if you rent to buy, as soon as you take ownership you, the owner, should continue with the maintenance. We cannot have an issue of maintenance in general. It's only those units that were built by the government with the rental stock where there is maintenance. As soon as they get transferred to individuals, the individuals themselves must maintain their houses.
So, it is really difficult to know about the issue of the database, because we are allowing municipalities to audit in terms of their housing needs. There is no way that we can close it. It should be open-ended to allow people as they apply for the houses to continue.
What you could talk about is the consolidated database, the housing demand database. This is exactly what the department is working on, so that we can have a database that helps people understand where they are in terms of the waiting list. You can press a button and know. This is so that housing delivery can be on a first come, first served basis and there won't be people jumping the queue. I thank you.
UMBHEXESHI OYINTLOKO WEBHUNGA: Ikhona nje indawana, Mphathiswa, endingayibuzanga, ngakumbi emva kokuba undiphendule kakuhle kangaka. Siyayibona inkqubela e-N2 naseDelft, kodwa umbuzo wam uthi: Njengokuba siza kwakha izindlu eziphucukileyo ngoku, ingaba niya kuyithathela ingqalelo na into yokuba iplani le ifanelekile, kubekho izitalato, ukuze izindlu ziyeke ukubelekana nje kuba kusithiwa ngooveziinyawo?
USEKELA-MPHATHISWA WOBONELELO NGEENDAWO ZOKUHLALA: Kunjalo kanye, lungu elibekekileyo. Sifuna ukuba kubekho izitalato, kwaye sakhe amakhaya, hayi iidomatri, ngoba esele sizakhile ngoku izindlu ziziidomatri.
Sifuna ukwakha ngendlela apha eya kwenza ukuba abantu balime izityalo kwaye abantwana babe neendawo zokudlala ... (Translation of isiXhosa paragraphs follows.)
[The CHIEF WHIP OF THE COUNCIL: There is a question, hon Minister, that I did not ask, especially after you have responded to me so very well. We do see the progress at the N2 Gateway and Delft but my question is, now that we are going to build decent houses, have you taken the suitability of the plan into consideration, that there are streets, so that there are no back- to-back houses based on the fact that they are called RDP houses?
I agree, hon member. We want to have streets and build homes instead of dormitories, because the houses that we have already built now are dormitories.
We want to build in such a way that people can do gardening, and for children to have playgrounds ...]
... in a community, which is not what we have at the moment.
Ndiyawuvuyela kakhulu lo mbuzo, mhle ngoba uchaphazela kanye kanye umba wokuba negama lesebe libe litshintshile ukusuka kwelezeZindlu laba leloBonelelo ngeeNdawo zokuHlala. Sifuna ukuba kube kuhle apho sihamba khona, hayi ukuba izitalato zethu zibe mxinwa ngoko zisokole izithuthi. Asiyifuni into enjalo, sifuna ukuba kube kuhle apho sikhoyo; nathi sifane nabanye abantu. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
[I am very pleased with this question. It is good because it involves the very same issue of name change for the department, from the Department of Housing to the Department of Human Settlements. We want our places to be beautiful, and not to have narrow streets that will make it difficult for vehicles to be driven. We do not want that kind of a situation; we want our places to be beautiful and to be like those other people.]
Position regarding measures to curb fraud and corruption in allocation of houses
25. Mr M P Sibande (ANC) asked the Minister of Human Settlements:
(1) Whether he has engaged the provinces on implementing measures to curb fraud and corruption in the allocation of houses to communities; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details;
(2) how many government officials have been (a) dismissed or (b) arrested on reports or allegations of being involved in fraud and corruption in the allocation of houses in the provinces?