Hon. Chairperson and Hon. Members; housing – like crime, and unemployment – is one of the issues that are uppermost in the minds of the people of KwaZulu-Natal. Unfortunately, the harsh reality is that - despite the much-vaunted about Freedom Charter’s declaration that: “There shall be houses…” - multitudes of the poor and destitute will never see that lofty ideal realised in their lifetime; unless of course there is a dramatic change.

The Hon. MEC has quoted to us the findings of the South African Institute of Race Relations. Lest we are taken up with the figures, let me state that the said Race Relations did not look into rampant fraud, corruption and maladministration; which are the real cancer ravaging the ANC government. Secondly, it did not deal with the ANC’s failure to fulfil promises it has made to our people. In 2006, the ANC’s Local Government Election Manifesto declared that:
“Our programme aims to:
• Accelerate service delivery so that:
➢ No community will still be using the bucket system for sanitation by 2007.
➢ All communities will have access to clean water and decent sanitation by 2010.
➢ All houses will have access to electricity by 2012.
➢ There is universal provision of free basic services.
“• Improve the way government provides housing to ensure better quality houses closer to economic opportunities and combat corruption in the administration of waiting lists.”

Therefore years after these noble promises were made, the Department of Human Settlements - and by extension the ANC Provincial Government - is falling behind on its quantitative targets in the construction of housing. This fact was well encapsulated by Dr Mike Sutcliffe who, in the Sunday Tribune, lamented the failure by the ANC-led eThekwini Municipality to meet its targets. Dr Sutcliffe said: “And I then mourned the drop in the rate of housing delivery from around 22 000 built in the midst of the World Cup to around 2000 today.” (No Smoking Gun; Sunday Tribune, June 9, 2013; p.19)

Even in rare areas where these targets are being met, the procurement procedures are riddled with corruption, and, the quality of housing is often substandard. This, the National Minister for Human Settlements admitted to the Portfolio Committee in 2011 when he stated that his Department was to “rebuild about 50000 low-cost houses - thousands more than expected.” (Shoddy RDP homes problem 'gets worse;’ Times Live; posted 9th February 2011 by Moladi). Minister Tokyo Sexwale continued to say that his Department had up to then “demolished and rebuilt only about 12% (6200) of the homes, most of them (5300) in KwaZulu-Natal.”

Hon. Chairperson, on 30 January this year the IFP leadership visited Siyanda Township following appeals from some community leaders. There we saw first-hand what shoddy workmanship is, in houses that were too dangerous for human occupation. Yet the eThekwini Municipality’s Project Manager, in a meeting we held with her, told us that those houses had been approved by qualified Inspectors.

On the 10th April, we again visited the Welberdacht East community which had stayed without electricity for more than 3 years. We met about thirty community members who detailed to us their nightmares of living in dilapidated houses, some of which could fall at any moment. But worse, some residents informed us that they were made to pay for their RDP houses.

Later, we received an urgent call for help from Mr Aman Khan of Cato Manor who had heard about our visit to Welberdacht East. We visited Cato Manor the following day; and the same story of the poor having to pay for RDP houses was told to us by some residents.

Believe-it-or-not, after our departure from Cato Manor some ANC-aligned hooligans went to Mr Khan’s house, confronted and harassed him for having brought what they called “Inkatha” to Cato Manor.

But what shocked us the most was the reaction of the ANC Councillor who heads Housing in the eThekwini Municipality, Mr Nigel Gumede, who had the temerity to go on air to justify why the poor had to pay for the low-cost-houses.

Councillor Gumede’s utterances served to vindicate multitudes who had forwarded their complaints to the Public Protector, Adv. Thuli Madonsela during her 2012 visit to KwaZulu-Natal. Those reports indicated that the people, among other things, had complained about the shadowy role of Councillors in matters of housing.

Hon. Chairperson these few examples stand as irrefutable evidence that the primary cancer that ravages the Human Settlements Department – just like the whole government – is indeed fraud, corruption and maladministration.

The IFP argues that, if the Department is serious about addressing the problem of the shortage of housing, it must conduct an audit of all its projects in KwaZulu-Natal and draw up a plan of action with regards to the failed and delayed housing projects.

But above all, the department must be prepared to tackle fraud, corruption and maladministration head-on. Accurate waiting lists must be drawn and be adhered to without fear or favour. And the housing budget must be spent to deliver housing units to those who are on the lists. To ensure that houses are allocated more expeditiously and fairly, there must be a plan to track the housing backlog through the development of a municipal data support programme.

CONCLUSION

Hon. Chairperson, these are contributions of a party that is committed to the rapid and efficient delivery of essential services to the poor in both urban and rural areas. As a party with a track-record of clean governance we stand ready to help the Hon. MEC should he have the political courage to extricate himself from the political morass.

However, we doubt if our admonitions will be heeded because the whole ANC government has lost a moral compass.

Our message to millions of the destitute and the downtrodden is that - as long as the ANC is in power - they must resign themselves to promises that will never be fulfilled. Lest we forget, it was the ANC government, which - in its 2006 Local Government Election Manifesto – declared that:
“Our programme aims to:
• Accelerate service delivery so that:
➢ No community will still be using the bucket system for sanitation by 2007.
➢ All communities will have access to clean water and decent sanitation by 2010.
➢ All houses will have access to electricity by 2012.
➢ There is universal provision of free basic services.
“• Improve the way government provides housing to ensure better quality houses closer to economic opportunities and combat corruption in the administration of waiting lists.” Seven years later; we are yet to see the fulfilment of those promises!

However for the sake of the poor, we support the budget.