Johannesburg - Minister of Human Settlements Mmamoloko Kubayi has announced plans to expedite the construction and delivery of RDP houses in her bid to drastically reduce the housing backlog in the country.
Kubayi made these revelations when she announced new measures for people to qualify to get access to government houses. She also said that public servants who earn a maximum salary or wage of R22 000, now also get government assistance to access loans from banks – an increase from R15000.
“We also took time to engage and consult various stakeholders within the human settlements sector. Armed with the analysis and the first-hand experience of the many challenges society is facing, we decided to prioritise the following areas in the coming financial year:
· Unblocking of blocked projects.
· Eliminating asbestos roofs across provinces which is a critical health issue.
· Increasing the pace of provision of title deeds to rightful property owners, prioritising the pre-1994 stock.
· Eliminating (dilapidated) mud houses, especially in the rural areas (prioritising the elderly and child-headed households).
· Digitisation of the beneficiary list to make it more reliable, transparent, easily accessible and avoid fraud and corruption.
Kubayi also said that having realised that there were many incomplete and complete projects that have not been occupied because of the lack of bulk infrastructure, she has decided to intervene towards resolving this problem.
Meanwhile, she also vowed to ask the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to investigate any reported cases of irregularities and maladministration in all entities including the Housing Development Agency (HDA).
Kubayi was speaking spoke of the department’s plans during her media briefing about improving services in the human settlement sector. She also announced increases in funds budgeted for the construction of traditional RDP, saying she hoped that construction sites would not be abandoned as a result of non-payment.
At the briefing, however, claims of irregularities at certain entities took centre stage as the Minister also expressed concern about being inundated with “unsubstantiated claims” of irregularities against certain individuals serving in the different entities especially HDA.
“Due to long periods of poor leadership and instability in some of these entities, a destructive culture has germinated within these entities. I am speaking of the culture of rumour mongering, fictitious grievances, media leaks and unsubstantiated and frivolous whistle-blowing that has taken root.
“I am a firm believer that we must deal decisively with wrongdoing and corruption, however, channels for exposing such should not be abused for agendas that have nothing to do with fighting wrongdoing and corruption. Since arriving in this portfolio, I have been bombarded with allegations and counter- allegations of corruption which are then leaked to the media. What is common about these allegations is that no evidence is ever adduced to support them and yet I spend hours responding to media enquiries about these allegations,” Kubayi said.
She said the stabilisation effort has also been made difficult by the existence of well-entrenched patronage and corruption networks that were putting up a huge fight against the stabilisation effort.
“I wish for the new Boards to be given space to focus on the task of stabilising the entities for which they are responsible and not to be occupied with conducting investigations for which they are hardly capable of conducting. I have therefore decided that I will approach the Special Investigating Unit to conduct an investigation in all our entities where there are claims of wrongdoing and corruption.
“I have said that wrongdoing and corruption will be dealt with, without fear or favour and I encourage those with any evidence of wrongdoing to take the information to law enforcement agencies,” Kubayi said.
She said the SIU would conduct a preliminary investigation before the law enforcement agency could recommend to President Cyril Ramaphosa to make a proclamation.
baldwin.ndaba@inl.co.za
Political Bureau