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June 2015
Housing
Mpumalanga and Northwest, which
are the main pressure points. In the
Marikana area, there are two human
settlement projects being completed
that will deliver over 500 units, built
on land donated by Lonmin. Anglo
American has embarked on a project
to provide more than 10 000 housing
units. In total, Government has com-
mitted R6,3 billion over the Medium
TermExpenditure Framework period.
Of this amount, Human Settlements
contributed R2,1 billion and themin-
ing houses a further R3,5 billion.
“We will be partnering with
Sibanye Gold to build houses on
land that they have donated for their
workers. We are hoping that this kind
of partnership will roll out with all
major employers, including
government, to build houses
for the workers.”
“We have spent 98% of
our Housing Settlements Develop-
ment Grant allocated expenditure
for the 2014 / 2015 financial year.
We have looked into the spend-
ing patterns of the provinces and
would like to report that when it be-
came clear that Limpopo would not
spend its allocation, we re-allocated
R559 million. We took a decision at
MinMec and allocated R200 million
to the Eastern Cape, R200 million to
KZN. The remainder of the R159,5
million was ring-fenced for those
provinces implementing the Youth
Brigade Programme. If we are to deal
with the burning issue of youth un-
employment, we have to do
things differently. For
every mega project
approved, the re-
quirement will be
for the employment
of a Youth Brigade. We
have sent a national team to assist
the Limpopo department to ensure
that all administrative infrastructure
for Human Settlements is in place, to
enable themto increase their produc-
tivity in the current financial year.”
She explains that after several
meetings with Mayors of the metros
on the use of the Urban Settlements
Development Grant (USDG), in cer-
tain metros, the USDG was used for
administrative purposes and as an
additional income for whatever the
Metro might deem necessary. The
USDG is a schedule 4 conditional
grant allocated to the eight metro-
politan municipalities to ensure ad-
equate infrastructure development in
urban areas, in order to address the
urgent need for accelerated human
settlement development, economic
growth stimulation and to reduce
the costs of access to land and ser-
vices for poor urban households. “We
have approved the policy on the
conditions of the use of a conditional
grant and the USDG will be used for
land acquisition, bulk infrastructure,
basic services/ serviced sites and the
provision of social and economic
amenities that support the provi-
sion of human settlements, ie recre-
ational facilities, crèches, small
business areas, etc. It may not be
used for any other purpose and any
deviationwould require the approval
of the Minister of Human Settle-
ments,” said Sisulu.
Together with the Ministers of
COGTA and Water & Sanitation,
Sisulu said, “We have had several
joint meetings with Metropolitan
Mayors to discuss the matter of ac-
creditation, which has the capacita-
tion grant attached to it. We have
agreed on a course of action neces-
sary and will report to the Portfolio
Committee on the progress on a
regular basis. We have sent an inter-
departmental Task Team, consisting
of the Department of Human Settle-
ments andNational Treasury, and the
Departments of COGTA and Water &
Sanitation to the NelsonMandela Bay
Metro. This has been underpinned by
a Cabinet decision and a Memoran-
dumof Agreement between the three
spheres of government and headed
by the Housing Development Agency.
We will report to the Portfolio Com-
mittee on a regular basis about our
progress in the area. An allocation of
R30,9 billion has been made and we
will monitor the results.
Task Team
A Rapid Response Task Team has
been created. It will meet with the
housing beneficiaries to minimise
any conflict and reduce the social
distance. Members of the task team
are all eminent members of our soci-
ety and in each province where they
will intervene, they will be joined by
the provincial Department of Human
Settlements.”
Hostel policy
“We are restructuring our policy
on hostels. We would like to gradu-
ally abolish hostels in our towns
and hostel dwellers who have lived