Issued by: Department of Housing
14 July 2001
The Acting Mayor of Dumbe Municipality, Councillor Mbokazi;
The Deputy Mayor of Dumbe Municipality, Rev. MJ Mkhabela;
The Ward Councillor and Acting Inkosi of the Mthethwa tribe, Councillor SD Xaba;
Inkosi of the Dlamini tribe;
Officials of the Dumbe Municipality;
Officials of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Housing;
Ladies and Gentlemen.
In the past, the government has been blamed for neglecting rural communities when it comes to development. We, as government in general and as a Department in particular, have been accused of thinking that development should be confined to urban areas only. We are here today to prove those perceptions wrong. We are here to re-affirm our commitment that development is for all the people of this country irrespective of where they live.
The project we are here to launch today is one of the flagship projects of our Rural Housing Programme. It is a project that was first conceived and approved in 1997 but partly because of teething problems on the part of the Department and the fact that rural housing was still a novelty and there was no coherent strategy to deal with this matter, this project has experienced delays.
Today we are here to celebrate the resilience of those who worked tirelessly to see to it that, despite a number of setbacks, this project is a success. The Department has pumped R47 million into the Bilanyoni Insitu-Upgrade Housing Project which will provide homes for 3094 families. The houses will be 34 square metres in line with the National Norms and Standards which stipulate that no house less than 30 square metres should be built.
To prove that we are serious about the Rural Housing Programme in particular and the development of rural areas in general, we have approved 17 rural housing projects to the value of R210 million between December last year and May this year. The support we have received from amakhosi and other stakeholders has seen the demand for rural housing projects increase. Depending on the availability of funds, more projects of a similar nature will be approved.
This project is about more than building the Bilanyoni community proper houses but it is a form of recognition of you as bonafide citizens of this area. For a long time you have been living in limbo. Because there was no official documentation that proved that you were legal owners of the land there was always a possibility, albeit remote, that you could technically be evicted from this land.
The province offered 557 hectares of land to build this project. The land upon which your houses are built is yours and nobody can remove you from it. Today we are going to handover title deeds which confirm that you are bonafide citizens of Bilanyoni. For a start a total of 800 residents will get their title deeds and the rest will follow in due course.
The journey undertaken by the people of Bilanyoni has not been without problems. The fact that this project was approved in 1997 but it is only now that we are seeing houses coming up is evidence of the many hurdles that have had to be negotiated.
Principal among these hurdles, has been misinformation that has been spread by certain individuals saying that people would have to pay for these houses. This has created a situation where prospective beneficiaries have been reluctant to come forward to register for government starter houses. As a result too much time has been wasted on this project.
Let me be emphatic. Nobody must pay for these houses. No party political affiliation must determine who gets a house and who does not. The allocation of houses to bona fide applicants is important. Any deviation from this shall be dealt with severely.
Again, I want to state categorically that government starter houses are meant to house the poorest of the poor. Government cannot introduce the existing housing subsidy only to turn around and say that people should pay for houses built through this programme. PEOPLE DO NOT HAVE TO PAY TO GET GOVERNMENT STARTER HOUSES. Anyone who comes to you and demands payment for these houses should be reported to the police and be duly arrested.
We are also aware that there are people, sometimes respected and well-off community leaders, who are using the government starter housing programme to make a quick buck. We are aware of councillors, who do not qualify for subsidies, who own government starter houses. There are officials of Section 21 companies, companies that are supposed not to be working for profit, who are also accused of demanding bribes before people can be given houses. Working together with the police, we are going to act decisively against these elements.
However, our most potent weapon against these corrupt individuals is you, the community. It does not help for community members to only come to our Department after they have been hoodwinked and have lost their monies. The law says that as the MEC I cannot go and lay a charge with police if I have not been robbed. So it is the duty of communities to report fraudsters to police.
As a Department we have begun publishing a four-page monthly tabloid called VUKUZAKHELE, that will appear in Ilanga Newspaper every first week of the month. This tabloid is written IsiZulu and answers all the questions communities might have about housing matters. This is, but one of the many ways we are using to fight fraud and corruption and keep our people informed.
We have known hard times. Indeed there have been instances when the problems at hand seemed insurmountable but because of co-operation among all the role players we have succeeded. Hurdles will always be present but if we are united in our approach we will succeed.
Allow me also to address the issue of land invasion. Those people who suspended armed struggle and were loitering around in foreign capitals only to resume their cowardly bombing campaign against civilians after the suspension of armed struggle by the genuine national liberation movement, are at it again. In 1960 they promised liberation by 1963 - an empty promise.
Rejected by our people in all democratic elections and facing a demand by their own members to bring forward their national conference so that they can be removed from leadership positions, these demagogues and tricksters are resorting to taking advantage of the genuine plight of our people. In a fraudulent manner they demand money from our people to pay for land which does not belong to them. This is day light robbery. It must and it will be stopped.
Land invasions are not aimed at helping landless people. They are aimed at delaying the government programmes of providing housing, services and the distribution of land to the landless. They are aimed at enriching dubious shack lords.
Your government understands the plight of our homeless and landless citizens. Your government has a programme to deliver on these two. The government of President Thabo Mbeki is accelerating these programmes of land distribution and provisioning of homes to the homeless. That is why we are here at Bilanyoni in the north of our province. That is why next Saturday we will be at Cedarville in the south of KwaZulu Natal.
I thank you