Housing in Southern Africa

e is quick to point out that

this is all down to the Minis-

ter of Human Settlements,

Lindiwe Sisulu, who has appointed

a highly experienced Council with a

strong technical, political and busi-

ness background, which cuts across

various disciplines and is well rep-

resented across provinces, gender,

women’s issues, youth and people

with disabilities.

A stickler for precision and cor-

rectness, Chikane says that the most

critical issue is to set the tone for

governance and ethical perspective

at the top. “We need to be compliant

with the Housing Consumers Protec-

tion Measures Act, Public Finance

Management Act, and Treasury Regu-

lations, Public Administration Act,

Companies Act (where applicable),

King 3 and the Code of Best Practices

in Corporate Governance.”

He explains that the Council’s aim

is to be compliant with legislation

and ensure that the NHBRC achieves

a clean audit by 2017 (moving away

from the Auditor General Report of

non-compliance).

“A clean audit is the principle

measure of any Council, to execute

oversight diligently and responsibly,”

says Chikane.

The Council has a number of

strategic and operational issues on

the agenda:

To implement new protocols in

terms of governance, accountabil-

ity, responsibilities and reporting

mechanisms that will ensure that we

execute our mandate diligently.

To determine whether the current

operating model is permissible.

To seek clarity of purpose in terms

of the Freedom Charter and the Con-

stitution of the Republic of South

Africa 1996 that states: ‘Everyone

has the right to adequate housing’;

within the context of the Constitu-

tion; the National Development Plan;

the National Housing Code and the

Medium Term Strategic Framework;

the expectation of government; the

Minister’s expectation of the Council;

the Council’s expectation of Manage-

ment and vice versa. To review the

NHBRC’s current legislation.

The former Ernst & Young partner

has held a string of key positions

in the diamond and mining sector

as well as being a business strate-

gist and development economist

and having established his own

investment company in 2008. Abbey

Chikane has no investments or busi-

ness interests in the housing sector,

and there is no conflict as he takes

over as Chairperson.

With operating costs of about

R400 million and having to enrol and

inspect 300 000 houses per annum,

averaging 1 000 houses per day, the

NHBRC has the capacity to support

the delivery of 3 000 houses per day

with the existing pilot operating

business model and the resources to

upscale to 6 000 houses per day.

However, in the past two financial

years government’s housing delivery

has dropped significantly.

“The rationale behind this op-

erating model can be traced back

to 2011/2012 when government

delivered 300 000 per annum. With

the inspection model no longer out-

sourced, the NHBRC in-house inspec-

tion unit has over 220 inspectors. In

the event that government increases

the roll out of housing to 600 000 per

annum the NHBRC has the capacity

to ramp up quickly. Chikane adds that

the state-entity has the budget and

can, if need be, outsource some func-

tions to meet the demand. “We have

a more controlled and well trained

team with tablets and GIS enabled

technical capacity.”

Minister Sisulu’s recent announce-

ment of 77 Catalytic Projects nation-

wide will go a long way to increasing

housing delivery and getting back on

track to roll out 1,5 million houses

and housing opportunities by 2019.

“The new Council, CEO and the

executives procured Enterprise Re-

source Planning (ERP) solution,

which provides an integrated view

of core business processes, often in

real-time, using common databases

maintained by a database manage-

ment system. ERP solution track

business resources, cash, materials,

production capacity and the status

of business commitments: orders,

purchase orders, andpayroll. This has

brought about stability as far as the

personnel are concerned. We are well

resourced and this is a requirement

by the shareholder.”

NHBRC’s operatingmodel includes

23 offices countrywide, a call centre,

nine engineers deployed to assist

municipalities, metros and provin-

cial departments with issues of land

Chikane heads up

The articulate and polished new Chairperson

of the National Builders Registration Council

(NHBRC) Abbey Chikane says that he has

inherited a solid, stable organisation.

Abbey Chikane