Thank you, Chairperson. Another point is ...
Zikhona izinsiza zokuzwa [... There is an apparatus to use for hearing].
You must put them...
... ezindlebeni zakhe. [... here, in your ears].
At a meeting of the President's Co-ordinating Council on Human Settlements on 18 May 2010, President Jacob Zuma said:
...the concept of human settlements is not just about building houses. We have to change apartheid spatial patterns and ensure that low-income households in rural and urban areas have easy access to economic centres. They must also have access to social amenities and key services such as water, electricity, recreational facilities, schools, clinics and a host of others.
An investment in human settlements is an investment in our future. Habitable and decent settlements promote human dignity and the stability of our communities. They lead to improved performance of children in schools, increased productivity of workers from those communities and improvement in the general health of the population.
The apartheid legacy of the spatial and economic marginalisation of the poor has meant that people live far from job opportunities and major services. Many of our people continue to survive without basic services in many informal settlements. Even those of our people who have jobs and consistent salaries find it difficult to sustain a decent quality of life, as they fall outside of the subsidy bracket but at the same time are unable to afford and access the mortgage products available from commercial banks.
The mandate of the Department of Human Settlements is not about a change of name, but all about the creation of integrated and sustainable human settlements. To fully realise the Freedom Charter's ideals, the department will no longer just build houses, but will play a larger role to co- ordinate, facilitate and support the provision of all essential services that constitute and contribute towards sustainable human settlements to better the conditions of the working class and the poorest of the poor who stand to benefit the most.
The redefined mandate and alignment require the department to create integrated and sustainable human settlements in order to support the creation of better livelihoods. It is also about transforming cities and towns into cohesive, sustainable and caring communities with easy access to work and social amenities, including sports and recreational facilities.
Many informal settlements, by way of contrast, are well located with respect to social amenities and economic opportunities but lack security of tenure and/or access to adequate basic and social services. Urban sprawl and low densities contribute to unproductive and inefficient cities, as poor households continue to be marginalised by distance and transportation costs and the lack of agglomeration in many urban centres undermines economic development and efficiency.
Building on the foundation of aspirations recorded in the Freedom Charter, the White Paper on Housing, the Housing Act and the Comprehensive Plan for the Creation of Sustainable Human Settlements, President Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma confirmed in the state of the nation address of 3 June 2009 that the human settlements future in South Africa must at least consist of: the development of suitably located and affordable housing and decent human settlements; an understanding that human settlements is not just about building houses; transforming our cities and towns towards efficiency, inclusion and sustainability; and building cohesive, sustainable and caring communities with improved access to work and social amenities, including sports and recreation facilities, which means community development and optimal access and inclusion.
The hon President undoubtedly envisaged integrated human settlements where people will have quality of household life. Mixed residential communities will have schools, clinics, sporting facilities, playing fields, shopping centres and economic opportunities. This would give effect to the Breaking New Ground policy.
Kodwa la eNtshonalanga Kapa akwenzeki lokho, awusoze wakubona! [But that does not happen here in the Western Cape!
In response to the different operational and funding needs of large cities, small towns and rural areas, the ANC-led government is making progressive improvements to local government conditional grants. The introduction of the urban settlements development grant, created by merging the municipal infrastructure grant for cities and a portion of the human settlements development grant, is a step forward in this process. It will allow the eight metropolitan municipalities to take a more integrated approach to upgrading urban informal settlements.
The human settlements development grant reflects the conditional grant allocation that is transferred to the provinces. Funding is provided on the basis of housing needs, the number of households earning less than R3 500 per month and the population per province. The rural household infrastructure grant reflects the indirect conditional grant allocation for household infrastructure in rural areas for on-site water and sanitation solutions.
The objective is to improve access to end-user finance by collaborating with the financial sector to develop mechanisms which will increase market penetration by providing loans for households, measured by the number, value and terms of loans to low- and medium-income households. It is also to improve the expenditure efficiency of provinces on housing delivery and sanitation services by providing ongoing financial and grant management support for the human settlements development grant and the rural households infrastructure grant, as well as ongoing business planning and reporting support in line with the Division of Revenue Act, so that provinces are able to use all transferred funds.
It will ensure sound financial management by maintaining ongoing controls and systems, measured by compliance with regulations and established practices. These grants are one of the several streams of funding for human settlements that seek to encourage towns and cities to be proactive developers of urban infrastructure by mobilising domestic capital, and that seek to realise the positive impacts of urbanisation by addressing towns and cities performance constraints and to improve coordination and planning.
The January 2010 Cabinet lekgotla accepted an outcome-based approach to service delivery. For each outcome there is a limited number of measurable outputs with targets. Each output is linked to a set of activities as prepared by the Presidency. While a total of 12 outcomes were identified ... [Time expired.]