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HOUSING MINMEC STATEMENT
STATEMENT OF THE HOUSING MINMEC MEETING HELD ON NOVEMBER 6-7, 2005 AT SUN CITY, NORTH WEST PROVINCE, SOUTH AFRICA
Sun City, North West Province, Housing MINMEC (A meeting of Housing Minister, nine Housing MECs and SALGA) agreed to fast track the delivery of houses through the immediate implementation of the Emergency housing programme approved by Cabinet.
Pilot projects will be implemented with immediate effect in Gauteng at Ekurhuleni, Alexandria and Marabastad in Tshwane, Eastern Cape in Buffalo City and the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan and the Western Cape in identified stress areas. The rest of the provinces will use the programme as and when they have housing emergencies.
These will see the delivery of 200 000 temporary units by end March 2007 to accommodate people living in areas of stress while they await the provision of permanent housing units. People living in these temporary houses will move to their own permanent housing units as they are supplied and make way for the next set of informal dwellers who will await their permanent housing units.
Stressed areas include unsafe land such as that which is located below flood lines, on dolomite, along railway lines and under electricity pylon. The programme will also cover those who live under unacceptable unhealthy conditions in informal settlements, Congested backyard accommodation, Condemned buildings and Court orders against Government to provide adequate housing units.
The temporary housing units will be managed and maintained by municipalities and since they will provide temporary accommodation, these housing units will be made available on a rental basis and it is hoped this programme will also assist in engendering a new culture of payment of services in general.
MINMEC added that the Programme will further the objectives of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) by creating 448 jobs for every 500 units constructed in the locations where projects are undertaken through labour-intensive construction methods during the installation of infrastructure and the construction of housing units.
The meeting also approved guidelines for the unblocking of housing projects affected by inflation and other related factors. The guidelines will cover all uncompleted projects that have been approved and contracted at any stage on or after March 15, 1994. Minmec stressed that the guidelines and measures should not be applied in respect of projects currently under investigation for corruption or maladministration or projects that will be subjected to such investigations in the future.
A review of common problems across all provinces which resulted in projects being blocked revealed that among the key problems are lack of capacity and financial stability of contractors or People Housing Process (PHP) support organisations, delays in Deeds Office, liquidation of contractors, cash flow constraints, procurement process delays, fraud investigation, poor planning, land invasion, legal action, long environmental impact assessment processes, delays in obtaining tribal land and in some provinces scarcity of raw materials and water .
The meeting agreed that the process of developing the Farm Worker Housing Policy is urgent and officials must deal with it immediately as farm workers are most vulnerable. It was added that the existing subsidy mechanism must be extended to all farm workers and MECs will work with farm owners to ensure that farm workers are housed in safe and decent accommodation.
The meeting agreed that communication is a basic human right, and communicators from all spheres of government must work together to ensure that ordinary citizens illiterate and literate are informed of government housing programmes and the various solutions and subsidies available.
MINMEC also noted progress made at the recent National Municipal Housing Indaba held at Emperor’s Palace in Gauteng. At the end of the Indaba municipalities represented by SALGA agreed in principle to a request for a moratorium on the sale of state land and to reserve the best land for low income houses to ensure that the poor also stay close to cities and areas of social and economic activities.
Issued by
Ndivhuwo Mabaya
Head of Media Services
Department of Housing
Cell: 083 645 7838
Date: November 10, 2005
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