In light of the "serious problems with housing service delivery", the Department of Human Settlements (DHS) has commissioned an audit to "take a rigorous look at housing delivery - from top to bottom", and examine, review and analyse the chronic problems in the delivery of houses.

The outcomes of this audit would be: facilitation of criminal action; institution of civil action; forcing contractors to finish their work; claims against contractors which have not done their work properly; blacklisting of repeat offenders in all provinces; and naming and shaming of people both inside and outside of government.

"There are rotten people. They take advantage of the public sector - this audit will look at this, and we can assure those who are involved in dodgy deals that there is no place to hide," said Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale.

"Heads are going to roll," he warned.

"We need to focus on issues we know are specific impediments - fraud, delays, corruption, absentee contractors, ghost houses, shoddy workmanship, and corruption around waiting lists," Sexwale stated.

He said that the department has noted the often-reported complaints, witnessed the problems, and found the evidence of what was happening "deeply concerning".

Further than just noting the problems, the audit would now deal with things that required financial accounting. The Minister said that it was not good enough to know that a house was improperly built, he wanted to know who built the house, who awarded the tender, who supplied the materials, and all the relevant related details, so that the right people could be held accountable.

One of the deliverables following from the audit that are envisaged are proposals and recommendations on appropriate systems, controls and measures to address problems relating to the efficient management and control of the housing demand database.

Clear guidelines and steps to be taken, including blacklisting and prosecution, to prevent and curb malpractices and fraudulent actions in the procurement and awarding of tenders, was another deliverable sought from the audit.

There were a number of complaints that the department heard repeatedly, and these were: shoddy construction work; inferior workmanship and broken houses; continuous contracting of the same bad contractors; projects that have been delayed for inordinate periods; people who have been in housing queues for years; people selling government houses; illegal occupation of government houses; nepotism; and the abuse of the housing waiting list system - in many cases by government employees themselves.

According to the special investigations unit, there are currently 800 government employees who are unlawful beneficiaries of housing subsidies - 120 of them at municipal level.

Sexwale said that over 90%, or about R12-billion of the department's budget for the financial year, was allocated to provincial governments for expenditure on housing delivery.

"It would be irresponsible for us, as the national Ministry, to sit behind our desks and hope that this money is magically spent on quality homes for the poor. In the same way, it would be irresponsible for us to sit back and hope that this funding is spent in the most effective way, and that all of it reaches its intended beneficiaries," Sexwale added.

He noted that of the first 27 000 calls to President Jacob Zuma's hotline, the "number one problem" was delivery of housing. The DHS received over 500 referrals a week from the hotline, and the department's own hotline was experiencing increasingly heavy traffic.

The government has provided more than 2,8-million "housing opportunities" since 1994, and said it was currently on track to deliver new housing stock in the various provinces. "Our initiatives to ensure a holistic and integrated approach to human settlements is starting to take form," Sexwale added.

The department would continue with the provision of housing, while the audit takes place. "We don't stop what we are doing, but we are more circumspect to avoid these pitfalls. We want to ensure quality delivery," Sexwale said.