Hon Chairperson, hon Minister, hon members of the NCOP, members of the public and guests, as long as the nation grows and there is poverty in South Africa, government will be busy with the creation of sustainable human settlements. As long as there are bad control programmes in place, foreigners will get houses before South African citizens do; councillors will have Reconstruction and Development Programme, RDP, houses to rent out and sell; corruption will take place in tender processes; officials will see that people who are willing to pay bribes get houses first; and people in the same family with different surnames will have more than one house. We are dealing with a sick department.
The department must take very strong action against corruption, maladministration in various departmental entities, municipalities and institutions, through the Special Investigating Unit, SIU. One of the biggest challenges in the department is getting enough land available - 6 250 hectares - to build 400 houses by 2014, with closer access to work, sport and recreation facilities.
To reach the goal of having all South Africans in formally planned settlements by 2014, government must speed up delivery. More people must be trained and get the skills to build houses. And the job creation drive should also enhance youth development.
The Jobs Fund of R9 billion budgeted for the next three years must be used in all government departments, as well as in the provincial and local spheres, to motivate and inspire people to work together for a better life in our communities.
One of the main challenges in the process of providing and delivering houses for our disadvantaged and poor people in South Africa is the development of rural areas in the country. The DA wants to know how effective the Rural Housing Loan Fund is, which was initially capitalised with R150 million in the form of a grant from the German Development Bank to the South African government. Is the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme and the Individual Rural Housing Subsidy Voucher Programme, approved by Ministers and members of the executive, Minmec, in place and administered well by the department? Are families in the rural areas aware of such programmes to help them create new financial arrangements and opportunities to improve their housing, economic and living environments? What is the department doing, in terms of advertisements, to promote all the different programmes to the people in rural areas?
The hon Minister Tokyo Sexwale has been on track with the Special Investigating Unit, SIU, since 2009. Millions of rands have already been recovered by the SIU. Criminal cases have been registered with the SA Police Service, SAPS, for fraud. Government officials who were unlawful beneficiaries of housing subsidies have been arrested. Problematic housing projects valued at R2 billion, which are currently under investigation, have been drawn up.
The DA wants to congratulate the Minister, who has made a big effort and wants to stop fraud and mismanagement in his department to the benefit of the poor and disadvantaged people of South Africa. But it is absolutely necessary that the department keeps Parliament updated with the statistics relating to progress being made on fraud, officials who have been convicted and problematic housing projects.
Parliament must make much greater use of the oversight visits to see whether or not the houses that have been built meet the required standards and if there is improved progress around rental accommodation. With these parliamentary oversight visits by the NCOP, housing projects will not collapse as they did, for example, in Rustenburg in the North West province, where not a single house has been built and R500 million has gone down the drain.
There are many more such examples in the country. South Africa cannot afford it. The hon Minister also agrees that his department faces a crisis with more than 1,5 million subsidised houses having been built so badly that they need to be repaired or rebuilt at a cost of billions. The National Home Builders Registration Council, NHBRC, said that of the more than 3 million houses that have been built between 1994 and 2010, only 409 000, or 30%, had been registered with them. They also said that 609 000 or 20% of these houses needed to be rebuilt.
The underspending of money allocated to the delivering of human settlements remains a problem in some of the provinces, and Parliament needs a detailed presentation on how the department intends to spend the money and speed up the delivery of houses in South Africa. The Comprehensive Housing Plan is being implemented through informal settlement upgrading pilot projects in each province. This will improve sustainable living conditions of households.
Rental housing for 1,8 million South Africans in the middle- and lower- income groups remains a problem and the demand is on the increase nationally. The department must look into an affordable rental housing programme for people in the low-income bracket.
The Minister also mentioned that at some point in the future there will need to be a cut-off point on government's subsidised housing, so that people can begin to do things for themselves. Thank you. [Applause.]