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availability, design and technical
services.
Chikane has been tasked by the
Minister of Human Settlements to en-
sure that the state-owned entity can
move speedily and has the capacity
to carry out inspections, enrolments,
facilitate training, deploy engineers
and assist municipalities with techni-
cal and design services and metros
and provincial departments to fast
track housing delivery.
Some of the key issues that the
Council has addressed include the
reporting protocols in line with best
practices, the Companies Act and
King 3.
“For instance, previous Chair-
persons of Council served as Chair-
persons of the Remuneration and
Human Capital Committee. That
is inconsistent with best practice,
particularly King 3. This has since
changed. Another issue was the inti-
mate relationship between the Chief
Internal Auditor, Company Secretary
and management. We have since
inculcated a culture of independent
reporting, mainly and functionally
to Council and administratively to
management,” explains Chikane.
He cites the example of the thin line
between the Council and executives,
who report to the Council instead of
the Chairperson of the Committee
reporting directly to the Council. “By
doing this, you miss the clear line of
demarcation and the responsibility
of Council,” he says.
There are a number of newly
formed committees, which include:
Social Ethics – which deals with
ethical leadership and ethics in the
industry and the long list of fraud
cases internally and contractors who
build shoddy houses. Chikane says
that the NHBRC will need to find a
way of dealing with these efficiently
and still be able to focus on our core
business.
“Other areas of interest are the
newTransformation Strategy - a com-
prehensive and inclusionary strategy
that includes women, youth, military
veterans and peoplewith disabilities,
and the Warranty Fund,” Chikane ex-
plains. The current operating model,
following the pilot model, will be
reviewed to see whether it is permis-
sible and if it will enable the NHBRC
to fulfil its mandate. Also, part of the
Council’s legislative requirements is
to create awareness about its role
regarding consumer awareness and,
there is a perception, even by the
shareholder, that it needs to ‘beef up’
the communications unit.
The Minister of Human Settle-
ments has expressed that she would
like the NHBRC to be responsible for
and offer protection to all the houses
in the country, far beyond what the
state entity currently covers.
The NHBRC has met with the Chief
State Law Advisor and, Chikane says,
“We believe that the New Bill will
probably be presented to theMinister
and the Portfolio Committee before
the end of the financial year.”
He notes that there is a perception
by the shareholder that the NHBRC
needs to be seen to be active and ‘to
have teeth’ in taking action against
builders who build shoddy houses.
The NHBRC plans to roll out the
Electronic Integrated Reporting
system with Google maps, GIS, and
also focus on training programmes
for builders, youth, women, military
veterans and people with disability.
Chikane concludes, “I am very
glad to do anything that benefits the
people of our country and my aim
in the next three years is to help the
Minister to build sufficient capacity to
deliver on her mandate.”
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HBRC’s new Council
Rental Housing