Tokyo Sexwale Announced as Minister of Human Settlements

Pretoria - Tokyo Sexwale has been announced as the Minister of Human Settlements.Announcing his new Cabinet on Sunday, President Jacob Zuma said the Department of Housing will be called the Department of Human Settlements to take on a more holistic focus.Going through the list of those who will take up seats in his Cabinet, Mr Zuma said: "Minister of Human Settlements - Tokyo Sexwale."A highly respected businessman, Mr Sexwale has held many senior positions in the African National Congress. He was imprisoned alongside Nelson Mandela on Robben Island were he was expected to serve a life sentence.As President of South Africa in 1994, Mr Mandela appointed Mr Sexwale as Premier of Gauteng.In 1998 he left public office and entered the world of business. He formed Mvelapanda Group, a Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed BEE consortium.He also serves on the board of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Local Organising Committee.Mr Sexwale was named Tokyo because he enjoyed karate as a youngster. - BuaNews

Minister Sexwale, we at moladi congratulate you on your appointment to head the Human Settlements Ministry. We assure you of our support in your task to address the backlog and quality issues that you face - Congratulations!

Asia-Pacific Housing Forum - moladi

Asia-Pacific Housing Forum - Homepage

> OVERVIEW

Building on each other’s strengths
More than one billion people around the world live in urban slums and this figure is rising as towns and cities continue to expand. The 2nd Asia-Pacific Housing Forum will examine and propose concrete solutions for housing the urban poor and for dealing with existing slums. The forum will look at alternative approaches and scalable models involving national and local government authorities, businesses and social organizations working together and building on each other’s strengths to provide housing solutions.
Slums are particularly vulnerable to fire, floods and other disasters. The forum will provide a venue where major players and stakeholders in relief and development can explore strategies to bridge the gaps between emergency relief and sustainable redevelopment.

> WHO SHOULD ATTEND

The Forum is of interest to all who are concerned and engaged in providing urban poverty housing solutions like architects, academics, developers, urban planners, policymakers, NGOs, donor agencies, researchers, private and public sector actors. We invite you to join us at the September 2009 2nd Asia-Pacific Housing Forum in Manila, Philippines to:
present a research paper or case study;
participate in a dialogue or panel discussion;
showcase your initiative or project;
join a training event;
engage in a “Leaders of Today & Tomorrow” session;
be a participant.

moladi is proud and honoured to present our construction technology “The Moladi Approach to Affordable Housing Delivery”

moladi establishes construction training skills college

The backlog of houses in South Africa and the huge unemployment rate has prompted moladi to establish moladiCOLLEGE. The focus of moladiCOLLEGE will be to create employment and develop skills, creating an opportunity for Government to make good on its promise to deliver housing and create employment. moladiCOLLEGE has partnered with CETA (Construction Education and Training Authority) and Services SETA to train veterans

For more information visit www.moladiCOLLEGE.co.za

Houses of horror - RDP housing corruption

Houses of horror - RDP housing projects corruption disappearance of millions intended for housing for the poor.

HIGH-RANKING Sundays River Municipality officials have been implicated in an extensive web of alleged corruption involving the disappearance of millions of rands intended for housing for the poor.



Allegations of gross mismanagement and fraud relating to four key RDP housing projects – for which more than R100-million was set aside in the once-thriving municipality – have been laid bare after a Herald investigation that was triggered by a government-initiated forensic audit in the newspaper’s possession.


So crippling has the alleged corruption been that the municipality’s accounts have been frozen.


The provincial administration has revoked its responsibility for any projects involving large sums of money, such as housing delivery, while it is placed under administration until it becomes functional again.


Government sources say arrests are imminent.


Tens of millions of rands have been paid to builders who were never authorised to become contractors on the RDP developments and who failed to complete the projects, while key officials have been accused of entering into “corrupt relationships” with councillors and their relatives by awarding them lucrative RDP home building contracts.


Top officials and councillors have also been accused of contravening the Municipal Finance Management Act by allegedly profiting from municipal building tenders – which they are accused of influencing for their own benefit – by awarding them to their families or companies they have shares in.


They, in turn, upped and left after completing only half the work.


Authorities are also trying to recoup up to R8-million which “vanished” from municipal coffers. The Herald has learnt the money was paid to contractors – who were never given the official municipal approval to work on the various developments – from a municipal account accessed by someone using the password of a former chief financial officer.


The projects at the centre of the cash scandal include those in Enon and Bersheba and Moses Mabhida in Kirkwood to which the Housing Department respectively granted R26.5-million to build 450 homes, and R45.7- million for 750 houses.


In Addo, a project in Nomathamsanqa township was granted R18-million for 300 RDP houses, while a stone’s throw away in Noluthando, R28-million was released for the building of 801 homes.


The projects, began between 2006 and mid-2008, should have been completed by now, but have ground to a halt. The Herald found hundreds of half-built homes throughout all four projects.


The figures are contained in a continuing forensic audit by the Housing Department, a report on which is in The Herald’s possession.


An inspection by the newspaper of the four housing projects revealed none were complete, with several hundred homes either half-built or mere shells with no piping or internal finishes such as ceilings. In many cases, houses lucky enough to have roofs did not have water or electricity or connection to sewerage pipes, effectively forcing the occupants to be reliant on a bucket system.


At least four councillors, two top municipal officials and several private contractors – some of whom are family of the councillors – are being probed in forensic investigations by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), known as the Cobras, as well as the Housing and provincial Local Government and Traditional Affairs departments.


The Herald has learnt that the East London-based SIU – which two weeks ago seized and copied the hard drives of the municipality’s computers as part of its probe – has passed on its findings to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, known as the Hawks.


Hawks spokesman Musa Zondi confirmed yesterday that the police unit was looking into three investigations regarding the municipality.


Former acting municipal manager Lungiswa Roji has also been suspended and is understood this week to be facing a disciplinary hearing for allegedly turning a blind eye to major irregularities by councillors and officials implicated in the scandal.


In March, Local Government MEC Sicelo Gqobana placed the Sundays River Municipality under administration and sent in Vuyo Zitumani as acting municipal manager to solve all the problems which had crippled delivery in the area.


Zitumani acted in a similar capacity in 2007 when she was made acting municipal manager of Mthatha for nine months.


Sources close to the businesswoman said she was shocked at the level of corruption within the municipality when she arrived four months ago.


“When it comes to officials (found to be corrupt), we will be hard on them,” said Zitumani, who yesterday refused to disclose the names of those implicated in the various probes.


“There are serious allegations which the SIU has reported to the MEC,” she said.


“We want to wrap up the investigations as soon as possible. The communities want to see action and are very eager to see an outcome.”


Zitumani said the area’s housing development status – allowing the municipality to oversee developments – had been revoked and was now in the hands of the provincial department.


She has also cancelled five housing tenders which were awarded irregularly.

Keywords - RDP, housing, housing for the poor, housing tenders, Municipality officials, corruption, millions, corrupt, builders, contractors, RDP developments, Top officials, councillors, human settlements, Housing Department, Local Government, MEC Sicelo Gqobana

moladi College - Training in Construction

The Herald Online

Urgent call for more artisans to be trained2009/07/10 Bob Kernohan BUSINESS EDITOR kernohanb@avusa.co.za
AN education and training expert called yesterday for the “skills revolution” to pick up and for artisans to be regarded not as “grease monkeys” but as being essential to economic growth.
Dr Raymond Patel, chief executive of the Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Training Authority (Merseta), also told business leaders in Mandela Bay of the dramatic drop, and likely shortfall, in the number of artisans in the country.
The number of artisans throughout the country totalled 28000 in 1986, but that figure had dropped to only 5000 in 2007, Patel said at a briefing organised by the PE Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Percci) and Bridgestone Firestone tyres.
The average age of artisans today was 54 – and Patel warned that unless dramatic steps were taken both to increase their numbers through accelerated training of thousands of replacements, and the recognition of their vital role, growth would be affected.
He blamed parents for not wanting their children to have jobs that involved getting “their hands dirty” by being “grease monkeys ...”
Patel – who has a PhD in education management – also urged that more emphasis be placed on students attending further education and training colleges (FETs). There they could study in “hard” skills, like engineering, science and technology, rather than taking “soft” courses like marketing and communications
“We are the only country in the world where we have more students at universities than we have at further education and training facilities.”
Yet, he said, 86% of students from the FET colleges gained employment within six months of leaving.
Artisans could be qualified within 18 months in terms of the accelerated programme. It required an entrance level of N3 or N4, depending on the field chosen, and comprised 24 weeks of classroom training and 56 weeks of experience in the workplace.
Such programmes also made huge sense for companies as billions of rands were available from the various Setas, which were funded by levies paid by companies anyway, said Patel.
Companies could get funding of a basic R30000, plus R6000 for each employee being trained in approved programmes. In addition, funds were now being made available to companies for re-skilling people as an alternative to retrenchment.
Such re-skilling programmes were essential as they provided not only fresh opportunities for workers, but also helped them gain self-respect.
“Often, losing a job leads to a downward socio-economic spiral that affects not only the worker, but the family and the surrounding community.”
Patel urged managers to be proactive and be at the forefront of taking on the “skills revolution” and widening its effects.

For training in moladi Construction Technology visit http://www.moladicollege.co.za/