Good afternoon hon members, Minister, Deputy Minister, and the Human Settlements family,
Setswana:
re le mokgatlho o busang wa ANC, re rata go leboga set?haba sotlhe se se tsereng karolo mo ditlhopong tsa ngwaga o. Re a ikana gore re tla tokafatsa matshelo a lona go ya ka lenaneo tlhomo la ANC. Ebile re a netefatsa re le maloko a ntlokgolo ya boset?haba, gore re tla tswela pele ka go bona gore Lefapha la
Kago ya Matlo le Diterelo le tlisa diterelo tse di maleba go batho ba Afrika borwa, bogolo setona ba ba dikobo dikhutshwane, re lebeletse thata bomme le batho ba ba nang le bogole.
English:
Hon House Chairperson, as outlined in the strategy and tactics document of the ANC, we will act as agents of change in the centres of power that we are deployed in, be it in the state, the economy, mass organization and international work. We will exercise our leadership not by decree or through arrogance, but in terms of the logic acumen and from the exemplary conduct. Honesty, hard work, humility and respect will be displayed to our people at all times.
As the Minister said when she was handing over title deeds in Cornubia last week, the ANC will also fast track the issuing of title deeds to housing beneficiaries, further strengthen the partnership with private sector in the development which has resulted in the creation of the inclusive modern settlement made of decent housing units, malls, industrial factories, retail parks and office spaces for various businesses.
Minister, we welcome this initiative and we pledge our support for the next coming five years, and we will make sure that we conduct our oversight as the members of this House. Hon members, it is for this reason too, that as the ANC, we support this Budget Vote so that we can implement clause 9 of the Freedom Charter which says:
"All people shall have the right to live where they choose, to be decently housed and to bring up their families in comfort and security"
Hon members, before 1994, as the Minister has confirmed,
5 million people were living in 1,5 million self-constructed informal dwellings and since we took power in 1994, we have built more than 4 million house and I think that this is a good story to tell. [Applause.] We have also created institutional mechanisms to facilitate housing deliver, for example, the National Housing Finance Corporation, Social Housing Regulatory Authority, Housing Development Agency, and the National Home Builder's Regulatory Council.
We have adopted the Breaking New Ground Policy to build integrated community which have made impact in most of our areas. Today we can tell a good story about the N2 Gateway Housing Protect in the Western Cape; in Cosmo City, in Gauteng, Aloe Ridge social housing project in Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal; Umhlathuzi catalytic project which is in KwaZulu- Natal, and the Bridge-City integrated city which is also in KwaZulu-Natal in Durban.
Hon Chair, we also support the R1.2, billion of the budget allocated to Human Settlements entities and we will continuously hold them accountable to see if the money allocated is spent wisely and productively. The establishment of a Human Settlement Development Bank will also assist in the delivery of houses.
In his Sona, His Excellency, President Ramaphosa said:
"If the South African government is to effectively address the substantial housing backlog, models of financing Human Settlement needed to be developed. The Human Settlements Development Bank will leverage both public and private sector
financing to aid housing delivery, it will assist in expanding the people's housing programme, where households are allocated serviced stands to build their own houses, either individually or through community led cooperatives"
We support the capital and operational funding allocated to this Development Bank for this administration and management of the finance linked subsidy programme and the housing subsidy, which of course, will assist first time home buyers with purchasing a home.
Hon members, the National Home Builders Registration Councils' mandate is to protect the interest of housing consumers and to ensure that builders comply with the prescribed building industry standards. Its aim is to assist and protect housing consumers from any unscrupulous home builders who deliver substandard houses, bad workmanship, and poor-quality material, no matter the size or value of your home building project.
Hon members, we will put this entity as one of our priorities in our agenda as we continue to experience defaults in many of the
houses across the country. We urge them to clean up the inspection and crack down on allegations of inspectors committing fraud and other malpractices. The Social Housing Regulatory Authority has failed over a period of time to utilize the grant allocated to them, resulting in poor performance in the implementation of its mandate. We will strengthen our oversight as the portfolio committee in this regard too.
The Community Schemes Ombud Services must improve in terms of the revenue management system. And, the Housing Development Agency also has some challenges of not utilizing the grant allocated to them which resulted in returning the unspent money to the National Treasury.
Overall Minister, governance of the entities has been weakened as reported in the media. The board are accountable to you, call them to assist and apply sound governance or they must simply resign and step aside so that you can appoint competent and focused people who will have the interests of our people at heart. [Applause.]
Human Settlements entities are important and critical for our delivery machinery. They are our special purposed vehicles on service delivery and we expect to live up to the mandate they are created to fulfil. The entities must fully align their performance plans with that of the department. Anything less than that should be seen as treason and betraying the mandate given to, by the ANC.
In conclusion, hon members, Gaston Bachelard said:
"The house shelters day dreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace"
The ANC support Budget Vote 38 of the Department of Human Settlements. I thank you. [Applause.]