Infrastructure

In terms of in terms of Section 26 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa of 1996, the Department is mandated to take reasonable legislative and other measures within its available resources to grant everyone the right to access to adequate housing. In addition to this obligation the Department, also within the ambit of various pieces of legislation including the Housing Act 107 of 1997, every provincial government, through its MEC, must, after consultation with the provincial organisations representing municipalities, do everything in its power to promote and facilitate the provision of adequate housing in its province within the framework of national housing policy.

Challenges:

Our constitutional obligation as the Western Cape Government is therefore crystal clear – we are mandated to grant all our citizens access to adequate housing within the available resources.  The access of adequate housing is carried out by the Department through a number of programmes, that are not only confided or limited to the Breaking New Grounds (BNG) units.  Therefore, the Departmental performance for the past four financial years must be taken in the context of the constitutional mandate as well as the unique and unprecedented MTEF period.

My Department faced and continues to face significant challenges that hampers service delivery, such as the long lasting effects of the COVID19 pandemic; budget cuts during the COVID19 pandemic; an unprecedented  increase in illegal invasions of land earmarked for development; community dynamics; prevalence of extortion and violent attacks on project sites linked to the construction mafia; delays in statutory planning approvals, including water licences; poor performance by appointed contractors; community unrest and capacity challenges at municipal level. 

The adverse effects of the COVID 19 pandemic were felt by every facet of the economy and human settlements was not exempt.  Specifically, during the 2020/21 financial year, the Department had to absorb a R300 Million cuts from National.   This cut was justified by National as a policy directive for Provinces, including the Western Cape to prioritise the provision of service sites in lieu of top structures (BNGs).  As a result, the BNGs are to be reserved only for the prioritised beneficiaries which include the elderly (60 years and older); persons living with medically certified disabilities; those that are on the waiting the longest; military veterans and backyarders.  The National Policy Directive meant that the Department had to reprioritize its already stretched budget and defer a large number of strategic top structure (BNGs) projects to the outer years. 

During the 2020 and 2021 period, the Department witnessed and alarming and sharp rise in the illegal sale and leasing of BNG units.  This growing trend is unfortunately undermining the Department’s efforts of providing access to adequate housing.  A number of the BNGs who have engaged in this unlawful practice are opting to revert back to living in informal structures even though they have been provided with a free and fully subsidised dwelling by the Western Cape Government.

The delayed optimal functioning of the Deeds of Office during the pandemic year (2020/21) had an adverse effect on the acceleration of title deeds transfers. 

The prevalence of extortion on project sites, construction mafia and illegal invasion of vacant as well as completed housing units, the Department had to fund security costs from its already limited budget to protect its assets.

In ain addition, the increased inward migration patterns have placed additional pressure on the housing waiting list as the demand for adequate is far greater than the available funds.  Despite this, my Department remains resolute in its commitment to the provision of adequate housing opportunities through a myriad programmes. My Department acknowledges that the myriad of challenges had a severe impact of performance and mitigation strategies have been put in place to improve performance.

Additionally, in April 2023, the National Department of Human Settlements increased the subsidy quantum for BNG units.  Even though this was a welcomed increase, it however presented the Department with unintended consequences, as the increase was introduced within the current budget envelope, with no additional increase and this relatively translated into a reduced number of housing units that can be delivered.   My Department continues to advocate for a realistic and scientific calculation of the provincial grants which should be aligned to both performance and demand.  With the myriad of challenges, my Department continues to outperform a number of provinces, some with even larger budgets.

Mitigation strategies:

Conducting regular technical meetings with municipalities to ensure alignment of performance reporting and address municipal capacity challenges. 

• Conducting regular meetings with communities to address issues and to mitigate community dynamics and unrests related to human settlements delivery.
• Conducting regular verification and registration drives to educate the communities of the Department’s offering and housing development process.
• Identifying projects that can be brought forward or accelerated to mitigate any in-year issues arising on projects with delivery challenges.
• Exploring a hybrid delivery model which aims to provide a more agile approach to housing delivery.
• A performance and contractor management process to address poor performing contractors is currently underway to ensure an agile approach to outputs and delivery.
• The illegal sale and leasing of BNGs continues to be a major challenge.  Continued engagements are being facilitated with the National Department of Human Settlements to amend key sections of the outdated National Housing Code in order to criminalise this practice.  In addition, further community workshops and education programmes have been ramped up to deter beneficiaries from this unlawful practice of selling and leasing the allocated BNG units.
• My Department worked tirelessly and enlisted support from the Office of the State Attorney and private conveyancers in expediting and prioritising the registration of title deeds.  Consequently, a Title Deeds Action Plan focused on improving support to municipalities has been developed. The Title Deed Action Plan seeks to improve the policy framework, professional resource support, data cleansing and the need for a dedicated project manager to improve co-ordination between the Department and the Municipalities.  Furthermore, the Office of the State Attorney and private conveyancers assisted with expediting and prioritising the registration of title deeds, resulting in an over performance on the set target. However, the fact that the title deeds registration process also relies on external role players, i.e., the Deeds Office and Municipalities, can delay the registration process. This has resulted in the Department under-performing in its registration of title deeds in other categories.  It should be noted that the Department aligned its indicators with the National Sector Standardised indicators.

(c)(c)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v) Housing units and Serviced Sites are the annual targets attached to the core mandate of adequate housing. The annual targets that were set as part of the 5-year Strategic Plan, and before the commencement of the current 5-year cycle, are as follows:

(e) and (h)(i)(ii) See tables below:

Programme 1: Administration

Programme 2: Housing Needs, Research and Planning

Programme 3: Housing Development

Programme 4: Housing and Asset Management