Housing in Southern Africa July 2015

News

Clean audits for province

T he department recently held workshops in the Ngaka Modiri Molema and Bojanala Platinum District Municipalities to enforce a zero tolerance against shoddy work in housing projects. NHBRC’s Provincial Manager, Sifiso Ntsizwane said that capacitating housing inspectors and other stakeholderswill ensuredelivery of qualityhouses toBokoneBophirima communities. It is important that the NHBRC, municipalities and govern- ment work coherently to make this a reality.” Theworkshopshelped toclarify the rolesand responsibilitiesof thedepart- ment, NHBRCandmunicipalities in re- lation to the inspections being carried out on housing infrastructure projects andhowtheycanbe improved. Inspec- tors also raised their concerns and mentioned the challenges that they TheBokoneBophirimaDepartment of Local Government and Human Settlements, in partnership with the National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC), has embarkedon an intensive housing inspectors programme. A total of 17 of the 24 Munici- palities (71%) in the Western Cape received clean audits, compared to 13 of the 50 munici- palities (26%) in KwaZulu-Natal; and four of the 10 municipalities (40%) in Gauteng, which included the Democratic Alliance led Midvaal Municipality. Kevin Mileham, Democratic Alli- ance ShadowMinister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs says the Auditor General’s report shows that the DA is best at running local government. “We believe gov- ernment can and should be more responsive to the needs of the people. We believe it can bemore transparent and accountable to those it serves, and that it can be more efficient in delivering services. Wherewe govern, our service delivery records and gov- ernance outcomes show that we are committed to spending publicmoney

TheDemocraticAlliance-runWesternCapeProvincehasonceagaintopped thelistofprovinceswiththenumberofmunicipalitiesreceivingcleanaudits, with zero adverse, disclaimers or qualifiedwith findings. in the interest of the people and that we have the capacity to deliver.” R860million incurred by 222 auditees in the previous year.

Mileham concludes, “The fact of the matter is that if a municipality cannot manage its finances prop- erly, it cannot deliver the essential services the people need.” ■

Mileham is concerned about the fruitless and wasteful expenditure noted in the Auditor General’s report: R687 million was incurred by 250 auditees, an improvement from the

Housing inspectors

experienced when visiting sites. Alfonso Manuel, Acting Chief Di- rector of Housing Development from the North West Department of Local Government andHumanSettlements, told inspectors that the quality of the houses rests in their hands, so it is im- perative that they do not compromise on the quality. ■

‘Little House’ demolished for urban centre

C ontractors recentlydemolished the remains of the ‘Little House on the Prairie’, a notorious drug den in Belhar, to make way for an ur- banmulti-purpose mixed use centre. The City of Cape Town-owned property has been the subject of a near decade-long legal battle to evict the occupants. “This is a truly significant milestone in our battle to reclaim City-owned properties. The Little House on the Prairie has a his- tory as one of the most problematic sites in the city, butweperseveredand eventuallywrestled the property from

the hands of the occupants,” said the City’s ExecutiveMayor, PatriciadeLille. The City’s Safety and Security Di- rectorate has secured funding of R12 million via the Urban Settlements Development Grant for the feasibility study, planning and construction of the new facility, due for completion in June 2017. City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Jean-Pierre Smith said that a deployment centre will be locatedonthesiteandwill serve neighbouring suburbs and informal settlements. ■

July 2015