Zuma affordable housing fund not functioning: “exists only in theory” Coovadia said
Cape Town - Incompetent municipalities were behind much of the housing backlog in the country, Cas Coovadia, chief executive of the Banking Association of South Africa (Basa), told members of the parliamentary standing committee on finance. He added that President Jacob Zuma’s billion rand guarantee fund for housing “exists only in theory”. A meeting on this fund had not yet been held with Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale to finalise details.
The R1bn guarantee fund for affordable housing was announced by Zuma in his State of the Nation address this year. This fund is intended to help prospective homebuyers who earn too much for a state-subsidised house and too little for a bank home loan.
Coovadia said the fund existed only in theory and that South Africa had a shortfall of about 600 000 affordable houses for households earning between R3 500 and R15 000 a month.
He berated municipalities for no longer being able to build affordable houses.
He said that the banking sector had been criticised for not providing sufficient finance for housing but, even should the government give a 100% guarantee, this would not help if the houses could not be built in the first place.
About 120 000 affordable houses need to be built a year, he pointed out, but for the past three years only about 80 000 houses have been built each year.
The primary problem was the incapacity of municipalities, he said.
Five years ago finalising municipal regulations around house construction, such as issuing certificates of approval for developments, took 30 months. It currently takes a municipality 48 months to issue such certificates.
Affordable housing developers are simply withdrawing from projects.
Coovadia also rejected criticism from committee members that commercial banks were not advancing enough to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
He lambasted development financiers like Khula, which now wants to compete directly with commercial banks using its Khula Direct model – rather than developing a plan to provide security for those without collateral but with a good business plan.
The ANC’s Zephroma Dubazana said she had been under the impression that commercial banks used taxpayers’ money from the government fiscus, and were therefore obliged to help small enterprises.
Coovadia had to explain the difference between money from the fiscus, as in the case of Khula, and private deposits kept by commercial banks on the public’s behalf.
On Wednesday the committee will meet with the financial sector transformation council.
Keywords: - Cape Town, Cas Coovadia, banking Association, build affordable houses, R1bn guarantee fund, incapacity of municipalities, concrete homes, moladi, formwork, solution, deskill, Khula, Zephroma Dubazana, president Jacob Zuma, Tokyo Sexwale, shortfall
Showing posts with label concrete homes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label concrete homes. Show all posts
RDP houses 80 Percent of occupied illegally
80 Percent of RDP houses occupied illegally
Preliminary results of an investigation into the tenancy of RDP houses in Philippi’s Samora Machel suburb, which started a week ago, has found that only about 20 percent of those occupying RDP houses are the rightful beneficiaries.
About half of the over 4000 RDP houses built in the area have been surveyed so far, said Samora Machel ward councillor Monwabisi Mbaliswano on Tuesday.
Mbaliswano said 20 community members supported by the provincial Human Settlement Department, were going door-to-door and requesting the property title deeds.
The Samora Machel investigation, and a parallel investigation in Khayelitsha’s Mandela Park, was launched by the department three weeks ago after Development Forum executive committee members noted that many people who had been allocated RDP houses sold them before the national Human Settlement Department’s moratorium on the sale of state-subsidised houses by beneficiaries had lapsed.
Mbaliswano said according to preliminary results of the investigation in Samora Machel, residents who received RDP houses sometimes sold them due to poor building standards or to raise money for things such as burying relatives or relocating back to the Eastern Cape.
“We have found out that some of the beneficiaries had sold their houses and are now living in informal settlements and have re-registered in the housing department database,” he said.
Mbaliswano said most of the people who had bought RDP houses had no title deeds to prove it was their house, and only had affidavits from the police.
Zalisile Mbali, spokesperson for Human Settlement MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela, confirmed the investigations into RDP house tenancy were ongoing.
“Most of the people who were allocated houses seem to be going back to living in shacks while some are reported to be living in the Eastern Cape,” said Mbali.
However, he said he could not yet say what would happen to people who were illegally occupying RDP houses.
But Mbali dismissed Mbaliswano’s figure of 80 percent illegal tenancy, saying: “We don’t know where the figures come from because the survey is not yet done. We will table the results once they are ready”.
Keywords: - RDP houses, Human Settlement Department’s, Bonginkosi Madikizela, Zalisile Mbali, poor building standards, concrete homes, western Cape
Preliminary results of an investigation into the tenancy of RDP houses in Philippi’s Samora Machel suburb, which started a week ago, has found that only about 20 percent of those occupying RDP houses are the rightful beneficiaries.
About half of the over 4000 RDP houses built in the area have been surveyed so far, said Samora Machel ward councillor Monwabisi Mbaliswano on Tuesday.
Mbaliswano said 20 community members supported by the provincial Human Settlement Department, were going door-to-door and requesting the property title deeds.
The Samora Machel investigation, and a parallel investigation in Khayelitsha’s Mandela Park, was launched by the department three weeks ago after Development Forum executive committee members noted that many people who had been allocated RDP houses sold them before the national Human Settlement Department’s moratorium on the sale of state-subsidised houses by beneficiaries had lapsed.
Mbaliswano said according to preliminary results of the investigation in Samora Machel, residents who received RDP houses sometimes sold them due to poor building standards or to raise money for things such as burying relatives or relocating back to the Eastern Cape.
“We have found out that some of the beneficiaries had sold their houses and are now living in informal settlements and have re-registered in the housing department database,” he said.
Mbaliswano said most of the people who had bought RDP houses had no title deeds to prove it was their house, and only had affidavits from the police.
Zalisile Mbali, spokesperson for Human Settlement MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela, confirmed the investigations into RDP house tenancy were ongoing.
“Most of the people who were allocated houses seem to be going back to living in shacks while some are reported to be living in the Eastern Cape,” said Mbali.
However, he said he could not yet say what would happen to people who were illegally occupying RDP houses.
But Mbali dismissed Mbaliswano’s figure of 80 percent illegal tenancy, saying: “We don’t know where the figures come from because the survey is not yet done. We will table the results once they are ready”.
Keywords: - RDP houses, Human Settlement Department’s, Bonginkosi Madikizela, Zalisile Mbali, poor building standards, concrete homes, western Cape
Housing need South Africa - 12 milllion people
Sexwale : 12 milllion people still in need of housing : South Africa
The SABC are reporting Saturday that Human Settlements Minister, Tokyo Sexwale, has confirmed that there is a backlog of two million housing units in the country.According to the Minister government still has to provide houses for 12 million people in South Africa.He was speaking at the launch of Tau Village, an inner city Social Housing project, in Pretoria on Friday and acknowledged that the government needed to meet people’s basic needs.The report also confirms that the residents of Tshabho - a village near Berlin in the Eastern Cape - have called on the Minister to investigate their housing project. While a company had been awarded a tender the project failed to take off. In addition that they have documents claiming to have finished their houses which was not true. According to residents' chairperson, Sizwe Yaka, several meetings have been held with the provincial department without resolving the issues.
Keyword - Human Settlements, Tokyo Sexwale, backlog, million, housing, moladi, concrete homes, sustainable development, South Africa, corrupt, fraud, SABS, basic need, job creation, houses, rdp, subsidy
The SABC are reporting Saturday that Human Settlements Minister, Tokyo Sexwale, has confirmed that there is a backlog of two million housing units in the country.According to the Minister government still has to provide houses for 12 million people in South Africa.He was speaking at the launch of Tau Village, an inner city Social Housing project, in Pretoria on Friday and acknowledged that the government needed to meet people’s basic needs.The report also confirms that the residents of Tshabho - a village near Berlin in the Eastern Cape - have called on the Minister to investigate their housing project. While a company had been awarded a tender the project failed to take off. In addition that they have documents claiming to have finished their houses which was not true. According to residents' chairperson, Sizwe Yaka, several meetings have been held with the provincial department without resolving the issues.
Keyword - Human Settlements, Tokyo Sexwale, backlog, million, housing, moladi, concrete homes, sustainable development, South Africa, corrupt, fraud, SABS, basic need, job creation, houses, rdp, subsidy
Squatter sites rise - informal settlements double
Squatter sites rise - informal settlements double
Squatter sites rise
The number of informal settlements in South Africa has doubled in the last 10 years.
Just last week about 100 households started erecting shacks across Main Reef Road near the Princess informal settlement in Roodepoort, western Johannesburg.
One of those hard at work was Tlotlo Sejamoholo.
"I was living on a plot but the owner sold it and we had to leave last week," he said. " That is why I am here."
Sejamoholo's neighbour, Josephina Mosulusi, said: "We are under constant threat from Metro police but we have nowhere else to go."
Other residents of the new shanty town said they moved from Princess because they were on a flood plain.
In 2001 there were 1 066 shanty towns nationally. That number has since risen to 2628 informal settlements "as at the 2009-10 financial year".
"This figure does not take into account any new or illegal informal settlements that emerged from the time the study was initiated and concluded. This figure is estimated to be nearer to 2700," said Chris Vick, who speaks for the national Department of Human Settlement.
Only about "721 informal settlements have been identified nationally for formalisation and upgrading with basic services by the various provinces and local municipalities", he said.
Gauteng has the highest number of informal settlements. At least 84 new informal settlements sprang up in the last five years - from 405 settlements in 2005. In January 489 were counted.
"Only 122 lend themselves to formalisation. To date 69 of the settlements have already been formalised and are now legally recognised as townships. That means people have a title deed registered in the name of the beneficiary," said Fred Mokoko, Gauteng spokesperson for housing.
"Settlements can only be formalised if the location of the settlement is complimentary to Provincial and Municipal Planning Policy such as the Spatial Development Framework (SDF) and Integrated Development Plan (IDP) in which municipalities amongst other things make provision for future housing planning.
"Settlements earmarked for formalisation will have to undergo not just an assessment from a planning policy or framework compliance point of view, but also suitability in terms of physical features such as the soil conditions, environmental sensitivities," Mokoko said.
"It would be important to acknowledge that as planning for a particular settlement is completed, and in the absence of stringent growth management measures in place, settlements continue to experience internal growth that often renders approved township plans obsolete. Such township plans will have to be amended or alternative plans must be put in place and often such dense settlements will have to be relocated elsewhere," he said.
Johannesburg municipality is carrying the heaviest burden with 180 shanty towns.
Currently, 25 percent of Johannesburg's citizens fall in the informal category which equates to about 200 000 households.
Keywords - Gauteng, informal settlements, moladi, rural development, concrete homes, backlog, households, Integrated Development Plan, Human settlements, shanty town, Chris Vick, Department of Human Settlement
Squatter sites rise
The number of informal settlements in South Africa has doubled in the last 10 years.
Just last week about 100 households started erecting shacks across Main Reef Road near the Princess informal settlement in Roodepoort, western Johannesburg.
One of those hard at work was Tlotlo Sejamoholo.
"I was living on a plot but the owner sold it and we had to leave last week," he said. " That is why I am here."
Sejamoholo's neighbour, Josephina Mosulusi, said: "We are under constant threat from Metro police but we have nowhere else to go."
Other residents of the new shanty town said they moved from Princess because they were on a flood plain.
In 2001 there were 1 066 shanty towns nationally. That number has since risen to 2628 informal settlements "as at the 2009-10 financial year".
"This figure does not take into account any new or illegal informal settlements that emerged from the time the study was initiated and concluded. This figure is estimated to be nearer to 2700," said Chris Vick, who speaks for the national Department of Human Settlement.
Only about "721 informal settlements have been identified nationally for formalisation and upgrading with basic services by the various provinces and local municipalities", he said.
Gauteng has the highest number of informal settlements. At least 84 new informal settlements sprang up in the last five years - from 405 settlements in 2005. In January 489 were counted.
"Only 122 lend themselves to formalisation. To date 69 of the settlements have already been formalised and are now legally recognised as townships. That means people have a title deed registered in the name of the beneficiary," said Fred Mokoko, Gauteng spokesperson for housing.
"Settlements can only be formalised if the location of the settlement is complimentary to Provincial and Municipal Planning Policy such as the Spatial Development Framework (SDF) and Integrated Development Plan (IDP) in which municipalities amongst other things make provision for future housing planning.
"Settlements earmarked for formalisation will have to undergo not just an assessment from a planning policy or framework compliance point of view, but also suitability in terms of physical features such as the soil conditions, environmental sensitivities," Mokoko said.
"It would be important to acknowledge that as planning for a particular settlement is completed, and in the absence of stringent growth management measures in place, settlements continue to experience internal growth that often renders approved township plans obsolete. Such township plans will have to be amended or alternative plans must be put in place and often such dense settlements will have to be relocated elsewhere," he said.
Johannesburg municipality is carrying the heaviest burden with 180 shanty towns.
Currently, 25 percent of Johannesburg's citizens fall in the informal category which equates to about 200 000 households.
Keywords - Gauteng, informal settlements, moladi, rural development, concrete homes, backlog, households, Integrated Development Plan, Human settlements, shanty town, Chris Vick, Department of Human Settlement
Ghana Ministers Accused of Misconduct in Housing Deal
Ghana Ministers Accused of Misconduct in Housing Deal General News 2010-07-17
Two cabinet ministers of Ghana are under pressure to resign as they face misconduct accusations in a housing deal between the government and a South Korean-owned firm.The agreement of the deal was suspended indefinitely by the parliament on Thursday on grounds that certain portions of the draft were missing.The ministers involved are Alban Bagbin, minister of water resources, works and housing, and Kwabena Duffuor, minister of finance and economic planning, who worked on the deal before its submission to the parliament.The deal, worth 10 billion U.S. dollars, was negotiated between the government and the STX Engineering and Construction Ghana Limited, and involves construction of affordable housing units in the next five years.Spio Garbrah, vice chairman of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) party, told a local radio on Friday that the suspension proved the officials in charge of the agreement had done a rather "poor job."Edward Ennin, an opposition lawmaker, called for immediate resignation of the two ministers, saying that they had failed to heed advice from some lawmakers that the STX housing deal deserved proper scrutiny before it was brought before the parliament for approval.The Integrity Initiative (GII), Ghana's anti-corruption agency, also called for the dismissal of the ministers whose inaction, it says, led to the suspension of the debate over the deal in the parliament
Keywords - Ghana, Minister, Housing, misconduct, billion dollars, stx, concrete homes, human settlement, Rural Development
Two cabinet ministers of Ghana are under pressure to resign as they face misconduct accusations in a housing deal between the government and a South Korean-owned firm.The agreement of the deal was suspended indefinitely by the parliament on Thursday on grounds that certain portions of the draft were missing.The ministers involved are Alban Bagbin, minister of water resources, works and housing, and Kwabena Duffuor, minister of finance and economic planning, who worked on the deal before its submission to the parliament.The deal, worth 10 billion U.S. dollars, was negotiated between the government and the STX Engineering and Construction Ghana Limited, and involves construction of affordable housing units in the next five years.Spio Garbrah, vice chairman of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) party, told a local radio on Friday that the suspension proved the officials in charge of the agreement had done a rather "poor job."Edward Ennin, an opposition lawmaker, called for immediate resignation of the two ministers, saying that they had failed to heed advice from some lawmakers that the STX housing deal deserved proper scrutiny before it was brought before the parliament for approval.The Integrity Initiative (GII), Ghana's anti-corruption agency, also called for the dismissal of the ministers whose inaction, it says, led to the suspension of the debate over the deal in the parliament
Keywords - Ghana, Minister, Housing, misconduct, billion dollars, stx, concrete homes, human settlement, Rural Development
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