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Date: 13/12/2002
Source: Ministry of Housing
Title: Mthembi-Mahanyele: Launch of housing projects


KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY HOUSING MINISTER SANKIE MTHEMBI-MAHANYELE, AT THE LAUNCHING CEREMONY OF FOUR HOUSING PROJECTS, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Council, Eastern Cape, 13 December 2002

Programme Director
MEC Gugile Nkwinti
Mayor Nceba Faku
Father Smangaliso Mkhatshwa
Former Premier, Mr Raymond Mhlaba
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

When I go to events of this nature, I meet beautiful faces that are usually full of smiles from the beneficiaries. I also feel a sense of enthusiasm from the beneficiaries who are ready to meet the new challenge of moving into a new home that will need their undivided attention to maintain and improve to meet their needs. These feelings are easy to understand when we know where we come from, and why we should sweat so hard to improve the lives of our people across the country.

South Africa's inequitable past meant decades of struggle for the majority of its citizens for life's most basic needs - clean water, a proper toilet, a decent home, a job and a safe and healthy environment. The democratic South African government was from the beginning strongly committed to increasing employment, to reduce poverty, and to improve opportunities for those who had been disadvantaged under apartheid. Reducing the infrastructure backlog, skills development and opening up of socio-economic opportunities became some of our focus areas in our effort to push back the frontiers of poverty and create a better life for all our citizens.

In the recent years, housing delivery in South Africa has come to reflect the important changes currently occurring in the country and at international level. Our housing delivery programme has developed to embrace a real commitment to implementing the Habitat Agenda through, national, provincial and local plans of action and policies and programmes drafted and executed in cooperation with interested parties at all level. Our programme takes into account the fact that human beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development, including adequate shelter for all and sustainable human settlements development, and that they are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature.

The bottom line of our development programmes, therefore, is our understanding and acknowledgement that our communities have needs. And it is our belief that these needs must be urgently addressed if we are to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor. Municipalities are at that all-important juncture where governance meets the people. They are in touch with these needs and have been mandated to address them, and I think they should play a leading role in trying to address the people's needs at local level.

More than eight years have passed since we elected a credible and democratic government in South Africa and I am impressed by the pace of our delivery of the basic services to our poor electorate. I am incredibly impressed by the more than 1,4 million houses that have been built across the country and I feel we should celebrate with the eight million people who have benefited from these new homes and the 400 000 old council houses that we have managed to transfer to them for ownership. I am also grateful of the thousands of our developers and contractors who have ensured that we get quality structures out of the R20, 3 billion that we have invested in the housing programme in the past eight years.

Yet as I travel throughout the country, launching housing projects, I have also noticed how barren much of the land surrounding some of these homes is. Some of the homes hardly have any trees, gardens or greenery necessary to maintain good habitat. Our beneficiaries often lose the opportunity to initiate household food security in the pieces of ground that remain in their backyards.

Because I've seen what the absence of proper nutrition can do to a person, especially amongst vulnerable groups such as women and children, I feel taken aback by this observation. In a similar way, I've seen what the absence of a healthy environment can do to people. I've personally lived in an overcrowded environment where lack of clean water and sanitation often led to a variety of deadly bouts of diseases and discomfort to the inhabitants settled there. And I continue to witness these conditions in many informal settlements across the country; hence I feel all spheres of government should work hard to alleviate this plight from our society. Maximum effort needs to be put to help the more than seven million people who are still without adequate shelter.

In implementing our housing programme, we need to pay special attention to the circumstances and needs of people living in this kind of poverty; people who are homeless, women, older people, persons with disabilities and all those belonging to vulnerable and disadvantaged groups. Furthermore, we should urgently pay special attention to the specific needs and circumstances of children and people affected by HIV/AIDS. My Department has just completed a study on the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the outcome thereof will assist us to come up with proper programmes to meet the needs of those affected. Local authorities should embark on similar initiatives to try and address specific problems in their communities.

We need more projects that will enhance our objectives as a department and government, and help us address the challenges of an integrated, comprehensive approach to development. It is important, though, to take cognisance of the fact that the challenges of delivering on this mandate do not only rest with the government but extends to all sectors of society. The organs of civil society, business and communities must assume responsibility as a collective, and in partnership with local government.

The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Council is one of the local authorities that have demonstrated the ability to mobilise and effectively involve the communities in implementing development projects. I know, however, that there are still lots of room for improvement in this area of governance, but we need to commend the local authority for the steps already taken towards this direction.

During my visit to this area last year, I was particularly impressed by the Western District Council's commitment to provide bulk infrastructure development that include schools, clinics and other social amenities that are essential in building a complete community.

The projects of Kabah, Kamesh, Kwanobuhle and Tjokville will, on completion, bring relief to at least 12 000 people who did not have adequate shelter and basic services. The Department has invested about R66 million to bring basic services and shelter to these people and I hope they will enjoy the festive season in the comfort and safety of their new homes. Close to 2000 employment opportunities were created by these projects and a number of local people received training in a variety of skills such as painting, carpentry, plumbing and bricklaying. And I must hasten to say that I expect them to use their newly acquired skills to generate income beyond these projects.

For these efforts I would like to thank all parties involved in the development of these projects; the Metro Council, provincial government, project managers and developers as well as the Eastern Cape Training Centre, for their construction training and Trees for Homes, for the 350 trees for the new homes. These trees will offer benefits beyond merely providing shade. They will increase the property value of homes and release oxygen that helps clean the air; save energy and also combat soil erosion, and provide other benefits. Allow me to thank Isandla Partners in Development and the USAID for the training that they arranged for members of the community, which will go a long way in promoting sustainability of these projects.

Lastly, ladies and gentlemen, I want to congratulate all those who will be receiving new homes today. I trust that they will take care of their new assets and help promote harmony in their neighbourhood. The recent revelation by the Task Team I appointed to investigate corruption, fraud and maladministration in the housing subsidy scheme is a cause for concern to all of us. It means that we need to strengthen our partnerships at provincial and local authority level and improve our monitoring mechanisms in order to eradicate the elements involved in these illegal acts before they discredit our programme any further.

We should take it upon ourselves to discover, expose and ensure punishment of those who are defrauding the scheme meant to assist the poor. Although we have already made some arrests and also handed over some of the cases to the National Prosecutions Authority, I want to appeal to the people in communities to come forward with information that will help us capture those involved in fraud and corruption. We are ready to act decisively against anyone found to have used their office as a public official to abuse a relationship of trust with a housing authority for unlawful personal gain.

The arrests made so far are as a result of the information forwarded to the Ministry by citizens who did not sit back and watch state resources abused by wayward elements. I thank them for supporting government in its effort to fight and eradicate the scourge of corruption in our society.

I thank you
Issued by Ministry of Housing
13 December 2002

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