CAPE TOWN – THE Department of Human Settlements has achieved its 17th unqualified audit report since the dawn of democracy for the way it is managing public finances. The 2010/11 Annual Report was tabled in Parliament earlier today.

Human Settlements Director General Thabane Zulu thanked his management team and Ministry for the support provided in achieving the positive audit results.

“While we are happy about the unqualified audit we will ensure that the matters raised by the Auditor-General will receive attention more particularly the matter of departmental performance management and reporting,” he told MPs.

The Annual Report also revealed that almost a thousand government officials were arrested and about 871 were convicted of offences related to the National Subsidy Programme. These are officials who corruptly benefitted from the housing programme meant for the poor.

“The sentences handed down include suspended sentences and with conditions to repay subsidy amounts. Of this 1 615 acknowledgements of debt to the value of R21.7 million were signed by civil servants who defrauded the department and or provinces,” he said.

These arrests were as a result of the Special Investigations Unit work as mandated by the Presidential Proclamation issued in the 2010-11 financial year. Disciplinary processes were handled by the respective departments and municipalities.

Zulu added that four hundred municipal employees were also arrested during the period under review with 334 court cases having been finalised.

To date 860 acknowledgements of debt to the value of R8.2 million were signed by municipal employees who committed fraud in terms of the National Subsidy Programme.

The department will vigorously pursue those who seek to defraud the state because such acts affect the poor and the people targeted by government housing delivery programme, said Zulu.

The Director General told MPs that the Housing Development Agency has already identified in excess of 33 000 hectares of state land for evaluation for release for human settlements development.

However, challenges remained within the department especially its capacity to monitor all human settlements projects in the country and provinces’ failure to prioritize and budget for the resolution of blocked projects.

“In addressing some of these challenges we have established an implementation forum to ensure proper accountability for agreed outputs and outcomes and required evaluations are to be conducted on key programmes including informal settlement upgrading and social and rental housing to improve performances in funding planning and implementation,” he said.

ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SETTLEMENTS

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