Date: 23/09/2005
Source: Ministry of Housing
Title: Sisulu: Closing remarks at Housing Indaba
Closing remarks by Minister of Housing LN Sisulu at the Housing Indaba, Cape Town International Convention Centre, Cape Town
Master of Ceremonies,
When I look back over what we have accomplished collectively over the past year, I am filled with a great deal of pride and a conviction that in us people resides so much humanity and so much goodwill. To paraphrase from the President, “there has never been a greater confluence of goodwill and encouraging possibilities for us as a nation”. This has a particular resonance in housing.
Within this decade of freedom, we face new challenges and we have always outdone ourselves in finding innovative ways of dealing with these challenges.
Today we celebrate a beginning of new possibilities in housing. A new strategy born out of a new setting, a new insight that has been greatly assisted by a deep reflection of some rich experiences over a 10-year period, newly created partnerships, new energy and renewed commitment now guides our collective and individual actions. It is a culmination of a great deal of work over a 16 month period. This can only be a symbol that indicates that within our sphere of influence and ability it can only go well for our people from here.
Indeed, the strategy has contributed immensely in helping develop a better understanding of what is attainable through our actions collectively. We now have our social contract, as I had promised through my Budget Vote Speech on 17 May 2005. I firmly believe that this will help us accelerate housing delivery for the next ten years.
I am truly grateful to all of you for having participated in the crafting of this important collective statement through which we commit ourselves to something that is tangible, measurable and testable.
I want to reiterate that from my part, I commit on behalf of government, to ensure that we create an environment that is conducive for you to do business in. I commit, on behalf of government, to ensure that your bills are paid on time. I commit, on behalf of government, that we will streamline all administrative processes so that we can cut, by 50 percent, the amount of time that you would normally wait.
We will create within the Department a dedicated Directorate that will ensure that this is possible and that will be at your service to assist you. Should you continue to experience any administrative blockages from government processes. It will be at your disposal as an advice centre and will ensure that we do indeed give all the assistance we can give; that you will have a place to go to for information and advice or even to complain that we are not keeping our side of the bargain. In short, we will do everything possible to ensure that your work is successful. This is our part of the contract.
I am extremely delighted that at the centre of all of this has been the smaller contractor, especially women in construction. I want to convey my sincerest gratitude to them for all the support government received from them over the past 10 years. You have stuck with us through the most difficult times. Much maligned and much vilified, you have made it possible for us to build 1.6 million houses. We depend on you to be the glue that binds us together. You have been down this path and you will be our guide through our stormy weather.
I have noted your concerns about the difficulties to access finance. I was glad that our housing institution, the National Urban Reconstruction Housing Agency (NURCHA), was part of the deliberations. For through the Agency we hope to assist the smaller contractor gain access to funding in this area where there has been market failure.
As part of our restructuring, NURCHA is upscaling so that it can reach an increased number of the previously disadvantaged members of this sector to give greater effect to the human settlement plan.
I am also delighted to note that part of the smaller contractor’s contract is to ensure that the standard of your work within this segment has improved. I would like to communicate this to the people of South Africa, because it is a major triumph over what continues as yet to be a real problem for many of our beneficiaries who had to live with some shoddy work. I am delighted to note that your work in this segment will be done with integrity.
Our joint commitment to work with integrity will put paid to the headaches of unfinished housing projects. A number of the sporadic unrests that we have had around the country have to a very large extent been fuelled by the perception of our people that government does not fulfil its promises and when it does, shoddy work is the likely result. Thankfully we have the Black Conveyancers Association to help us in this respect.
Finally, my intention of drawing in the more established contractor has finally been realised. I have always been convinced of your sense of social responsibility. I know you will not let me down. I know too, that if I remove the headaches that you experience daily with administrative blockages, you will be able to cut down on your costs, because I have learned from you too, that time is money. I happy to note the undertaking you have made that the savings that you will make from this, be ploughed back into your social responsibility and in this way, that a percentage of your developments will be put aside for low income developments. I am glad that you have deemed the request to be not so onerous on you.
It is with deep satisfaction that I note the participation in the crafting of the contract of civil society, community organisations and labour unions. In the future we will depend on a great deal on them as we implement the second phase of our social contract which will involve the education of communities about that which we have pledged on their behalf, and what then the rest of the social contract is. They, as beneficiaries, of all our efforts bear a particular responsibility, a responsibility to assist government in the provision of this most basic public good, housing. The successful implementation of this requires an acceptance of the new culture, a culture of responsibility. What we do here will come to naught if we cannot establish that environment.
To the banking sector, I sincerely hope that you will be the wind beneath my wings. Together with the banking sector, we had intended to indicate to all of you gathered here that we have a solid commitment to inject R42 billion into the market. It is important for us to communicate this to you because we understand the extent of preparedness that you will have to gear yourself up to. This would then bring me to the building material suppliers.
To building material suppliers, thank you for having taken part in this process. We depend on you to ensure that the materials are of good quality and more importantly, accessible and affordable, for us to fulfil our promises of delivery to the lower end of the market. Your co-operation is absolutely important. Your participation at the Housing Indaba has enlightened me about a number of things involved in housing. I look up to you in particular to make possible what is possible for all of us. I hope you have noted however, that through the Council for Scientific Industrial Research we will be exploring possibilities of alternative technology.
I am grateful to the mining industry for promoting home ownership for their employees. To the women in the industry, stay with me, this is your time. While the men sit under the trees and contemplate global warming, we will occupy this space.
I am convinced that the document we have signed is a win-win document where each one of the stakeholders is able to take what each can give and enable and receive back what each can benefit. In it we are bonded together by all our expectations.
I am informed that we had extremely robust discussions around the issues. I am glad that we could come to this point now where we could commit our signatures. It could not have been easy that for the first time we come together in a forum like this we speak with one voice. Indeed, it would have been an extremely suspicious outcome if that had been the case. The fact that we all stayed to see it to the end should speak to the level of commitment we all have to the process.
What should follow now is a legislative process so that any of the matters that require a regulatory framework can then be given the enabling instrument. I would like to assure all of you that you will be consulted even as we do this because that which brought us here was to create maximum co-operation.
I am very grateful for the time that you have taken to be here. I would like to think that this is the beginning of a very good relationship.
To all my MECs and the Portfolio Committee of the National Assembly, thank you for your support, always.
To the steering committee that worked on this Indaba, headed by my Adviser, Thozamile Botha, very ably assisted by Zohra Ebrahim, thank you. To my Department under the acting Director-General, Ahmedi Vawda, a job well done. To Niall Mellon who came all the way from Ireland to assist John Rabie, and us I feel your passion for housing, it is contagious!
Together we can change the economy of this country. On the back of housing development we can achieve a 6 percent growth rate in the economy. And you will be the backdrop of that solid economic growth. Individually we could not achieve that neither the banks, neither the construction sector, neither the non-governmental organisations, neither developers nor the suppliers of building material or any other sector playing a part in housing delivery.
But together we can. Together we must for our countries’ sake.
I thank you.
Issued by: Ministry of Housing
23 September 2005
Source: Ministry of Housing
Title: Sisulu: Closing remarks at Housing Indaba
Closing remarks by Minister of Housing LN Sisulu at the Housing Indaba, Cape Town International Convention Centre, Cape Town
Master of Ceremonies,
When I look back over what we have accomplished collectively over the past year, I am filled with a great deal of pride and a conviction that in us people resides so much humanity and so much goodwill. To paraphrase from the President, “there has never been a greater confluence of goodwill and encouraging possibilities for us as a nation”. This has a particular resonance in housing.
Within this decade of freedom, we face new challenges and we have always outdone ourselves in finding innovative ways of dealing with these challenges.
Today we celebrate a beginning of new possibilities in housing. A new strategy born out of a new setting, a new insight that has been greatly assisted by a deep reflection of some rich experiences over a 10-year period, newly created partnerships, new energy and renewed commitment now guides our collective and individual actions. It is a culmination of a great deal of work over a 16 month period. This can only be a symbol that indicates that within our sphere of influence and ability it can only go well for our people from here.
Indeed, the strategy has contributed immensely in helping develop a better understanding of what is attainable through our actions collectively. We now have our social contract, as I had promised through my Budget Vote Speech on 17 May 2005. I firmly believe that this will help us accelerate housing delivery for the next ten years.
I am truly grateful to all of you for having participated in the crafting of this important collective statement through which we commit ourselves to something that is tangible, measurable and testable.
I want to reiterate that from my part, I commit on behalf of government, to ensure that we create an environment that is conducive for you to do business in. I commit, on behalf of government, to ensure that your bills are paid on time. I commit, on behalf of government, that we will streamline all administrative processes so that we can cut, by 50 percent, the amount of time that you would normally wait.
We will create within the Department a dedicated Directorate that will ensure that this is possible and that will be at your service to assist you. Should you continue to experience any administrative blockages from government processes. It will be at your disposal as an advice centre and will ensure that we do indeed give all the assistance we can give; that you will have a place to go to for information and advice or even to complain that we are not keeping our side of the bargain. In short, we will do everything possible to ensure that your work is successful. This is our part of the contract.
I am extremely delighted that at the centre of all of this has been the smaller contractor, especially women in construction. I want to convey my sincerest gratitude to them for all the support government received from them over the past 10 years. You have stuck with us through the most difficult times. Much maligned and much vilified, you have made it possible for us to build 1.6 million houses. We depend on you to be the glue that binds us together. You have been down this path and you will be our guide through our stormy weather.
I have noted your concerns about the difficulties to access finance. I was glad that our housing institution, the National Urban Reconstruction Housing Agency (NURCHA), was part of the deliberations. For through the Agency we hope to assist the smaller contractor gain access to funding in this area where there has been market failure.
As part of our restructuring, NURCHA is upscaling so that it can reach an increased number of the previously disadvantaged members of this sector to give greater effect to the human settlement plan.
I am also delighted to note that part of the smaller contractor’s contract is to ensure that the standard of your work within this segment has improved. I would like to communicate this to the people of South Africa, because it is a major triumph over what continues as yet to be a real problem for many of our beneficiaries who had to live with some shoddy work. I am delighted to note that your work in this segment will be done with integrity.
Our joint commitment to work with integrity will put paid to the headaches of unfinished housing projects. A number of the sporadic unrests that we have had around the country have to a very large extent been fuelled by the perception of our people that government does not fulfil its promises and when it does, shoddy work is the likely result. Thankfully we have the Black Conveyancers Association to help us in this respect.
Finally, my intention of drawing in the more established contractor has finally been realised. I have always been convinced of your sense of social responsibility. I know you will not let me down. I know too, that if I remove the headaches that you experience daily with administrative blockages, you will be able to cut down on your costs, because I have learned from you too, that time is money. I happy to note the undertaking you have made that the savings that you will make from this, be ploughed back into your social responsibility and in this way, that a percentage of your developments will be put aside for low income developments. I am glad that you have deemed the request to be not so onerous on you.
It is with deep satisfaction that I note the participation in the crafting of the contract of civil society, community organisations and labour unions. In the future we will depend on a great deal on them as we implement the second phase of our social contract which will involve the education of communities about that which we have pledged on their behalf, and what then the rest of the social contract is. They, as beneficiaries, of all our efforts bear a particular responsibility, a responsibility to assist government in the provision of this most basic public good, housing. The successful implementation of this requires an acceptance of the new culture, a culture of responsibility. What we do here will come to naught if we cannot establish that environment.
To the banking sector, I sincerely hope that you will be the wind beneath my wings. Together with the banking sector, we had intended to indicate to all of you gathered here that we have a solid commitment to inject R42 billion into the market. It is important for us to communicate this to you because we understand the extent of preparedness that you will have to gear yourself up to. This would then bring me to the building material suppliers.
To building material suppliers, thank you for having taken part in this process. We depend on you to ensure that the materials are of good quality and more importantly, accessible and affordable, for us to fulfil our promises of delivery to the lower end of the market. Your co-operation is absolutely important. Your participation at the Housing Indaba has enlightened me about a number of things involved in housing. I look up to you in particular to make possible what is possible for all of us. I hope you have noted however, that through the Council for Scientific Industrial Research we will be exploring possibilities of alternative technology.
I am grateful to the mining industry for promoting home ownership for their employees. To the women in the industry, stay with me, this is your time. While the men sit under the trees and contemplate global warming, we will occupy this space.
I am convinced that the document we have signed is a win-win document where each one of the stakeholders is able to take what each can give and enable and receive back what each can benefit. In it we are bonded together by all our expectations.
I am informed that we had extremely robust discussions around the issues. I am glad that we could come to this point now where we could commit our signatures. It could not have been easy that for the first time we come together in a forum like this we speak with one voice. Indeed, it would have been an extremely suspicious outcome if that had been the case. The fact that we all stayed to see it to the end should speak to the level of commitment we all have to the process.
What should follow now is a legislative process so that any of the matters that require a regulatory framework can then be given the enabling instrument. I would like to assure all of you that you will be consulted even as we do this because that which brought us here was to create maximum co-operation.
I am very grateful for the time that you have taken to be here. I would like to think that this is the beginning of a very good relationship.
To all my MECs and the Portfolio Committee of the National Assembly, thank you for your support, always.
To the steering committee that worked on this Indaba, headed by my Adviser, Thozamile Botha, very ably assisted by Zohra Ebrahim, thank you. To my Department under the acting Director-General, Ahmedi Vawda, a job well done. To Niall Mellon who came all the way from Ireland to assist John Rabie, and us I feel your passion for housing, it is contagious!
Together we can change the economy of this country. On the back of housing development we can achieve a 6 percent growth rate in the economy. And you will be the backdrop of that solid economic growth. Individually we could not achieve that neither the banks, neither the construction sector, neither the non-governmental organisations, neither developers nor the suppliers of building material or any other sector playing a part in housing delivery.
But together we can. Together we must for our countries’ sake.
I thank you.
Issued by: Ministry of Housing
23 September 2005
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