Minister of Human Settlements, Tokyo Sexwale
moladi
I REFER to the article Sexwale on East London fact-finding mission (SD, August 22). It is
encouraging to note the Minister of Human Settlements, Tokyo Sexwale, on a fact-finding
mission regarding housing problems in East London.
However, it appears that again the minister, like his party, is engaging in talk- shops with
communities to solve housing problems. The minister is quoted as saying: “I’m here to
conduct a sincere conversation with the local leaders and residents to hear from them
about the conditions they live under.” He talks about not giving easy answers and
promises to face difficult situations.
But there are problems that can quickly be solved; for example, the 19000 houses that
need repair in the province. Why not simply fix them, rather than delay the process by
having more conversations with communities?
The provincial Department of Housing must set a deadline date by which all these
houses are repaired.
With a budget in place and the number of units required for rectification known, there
should be no more dilly-dallying over this matter. –
Dacre Haddon MPL, DA spokesperson on Human Settlements, Bhisho Legislature
Keywords: - moladi, tokyo sexwale, repair, houses, bad quality, provincial housing department, east london, housing problems
Showing posts with label houses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label houses. Show all posts
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
Abahlali Basemjondolo In Durban
Experiences Of Abahlali Basemjondolo In Durban
As S’bu Zikode points out, “We have seen in certain cases in South Africa where governments have handed out houses simply to silence the poor. This is not acceptable to us. Abahalali’s struggle is beyond housing. We fight for respect and dignity. If houses are given to silence the poor then those houses are not acceptable to us”.
As S’bu Zikode points out, “We have seen in certain cases in South Africa where governments have handed out houses simply to silence the poor. This is not acceptable to us. Abahalali’s struggle is beyond housing. We fight for respect and dignity. If houses are given to silence the poor then those houses are not acceptable to us”.
Defence force bill for veterans mounts - Training skills development
BusinessDay - Defence force bill for veterans mounts:
CARING for military veterans of the anti- apartheid struggle could cost the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) more than expected, says Deputy Defence Minister Thabang Makwetla .
This comes after a task team, set up by Defence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu to create an institution to cater for military veterans, received presentations from various groups asking that the plight of their former struggle heroes be addressed and their names added to the list of military veterans.
Makwetla, who is chairing the task team, says presentations have come from all segments of the community who were involved in the fight against apartheid.
Sisulu’s action is the result of a resolution at the Africa National Congress’s (ANC’s) Polokwane conference in December 2007. It claimed that the provisions of the Military Veterans Act of 1999 that established the veterans’ directorate in the Department of Defence were insufficient and did not cater for all veterans’ groups.
Makwetla says some people feel that the incorporation of various armed forces into the SANDF after 1994 may have left some liberation movement members destitute.
These include Umkhonto weSizwe of the ANC, the Azanian People’s Liberation Army — the military wing of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), and the Azanian National Liberation Army (Azanla) — the Azanian People’s Organisation’s (Azapo’s) armed wing.
Since Azapo did not recognise the outcome of the Codesa negotiation process, it forbade Azanla to be one of the liberation forces to be merged with the old SADF into the new national defence force.
While SANDF soldiers are catered for under normal human resource regulations, including pensions, these former struggle soldiers and others are facing unique challenges that the task team must consider.
Some soldiers from the old SADF, especially from units such as the South West African Territory Force and Koevoet — which fought in Namibia and Angola and were disbanded by the De Klerk government, want to be included as they regard themselves as legitimate soldiers of the state at the time.
“Then there are also armies of erstwhile TBVC states (Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei) that should need help,” says Makwetla.
“There is also a group which participated in and survived the two world wars and the Korean conflict that was unevenly compensated on various grounds including racism. They, equally, deserve recognition, like their peers,” he says.
“We are been called on to also look at how the state can help those who fought in the township conflicts — especially between what was described as Inkatha Freedom Party-aligned self-protection units and the ANC or United Democratic Front-aligned self-defence units,” Makwetla says.
“One expected that these issues were clearly defined and resolved during the integration process more than 10 years ago, but the task team does not wish to leave certain matters unresolved, with noises on the sidelines that could end up discrediting the process.
“We are revisiting these matters and finding out why there is still an outcry, and how they could be resolved once and for all,” he says.
With regard to the Azanla and Koevoet units, the task team would present its argument and recommendations to the Cabinet for a final decision. On various township defence units, a researched document would also be compiled and recommendations, based on social development necessities, would be submitted to the Cabinet. “Because they were not trained soldiers, they do not fall under the defence ministry,” he says.
Makwetla says in finding solutions that would alleviate poverty and improve the living conditions of former liberation fighters, the task team will seek to avoid creating an impression that the group is more privileged than ordinary poor South Africans.
“The team must strike a balance such that we do not create a problem of envy of soldiers from any military or political background by ordinary communities who fought tough battles in the townships against the apartheid security forces,” he says.
“This is a special situation about short-term needs that will be addressed with the help and the co- operation of other departments within the social development cluster such as human settlements, social development, health and even labour’s special skills training programmes,” Makwetla says.
Asked what was the likely long- term solution, he says the task team believes that all state soldiers will be adequately catered for “through an all-encompassing defence force human resource policy framework” that will look at building and securing their lives “from recruitment to retirement to the grave”.
Makwetla says a draft document addressing all these issues would be discussed at the stakeholders’ forum involving related state departments, non governmental organisations, policy institutions, civil society and parties next month.
This is what we have requested the Minister to recognize - Training veterans to build moladi houses...
CARING for military veterans of the anti- apartheid struggle could cost the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) more than expected, says Deputy Defence Minister Thabang Makwetla .
This comes after a task team, set up by Defence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu to create an institution to cater for military veterans, received presentations from various groups asking that the plight of their former struggle heroes be addressed and their names added to the list of military veterans.
Makwetla, who is chairing the task team, says presentations have come from all segments of the community who were involved in the fight against apartheid.
Sisulu’s action is the result of a resolution at the Africa National Congress’s (ANC’s) Polokwane conference in December 2007. It claimed that the provisions of the Military Veterans Act of 1999 that established the veterans’ directorate in the Department of Defence were insufficient and did not cater for all veterans’ groups.
Makwetla says some people feel that the incorporation of various armed forces into the SANDF after 1994 may have left some liberation movement members destitute.
These include Umkhonto weSizwe of the ANC, the Azanian People’s Liberation Army — the military wing of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), and the Azanian National Liberation Army (Azanla) — the Azanian People’s Organisation’s (Azapo’s) armed wing.
Since Azapo did not recognise the outcome of the Codesa negotiation process, it forbade Azanla to be one of the liberation forces to be merged with the old SADF into the new national defence force.
While SANDF soldiers are catered for under normal human resource regulations, including pensions, these former struggle soldiers and others are facing unique challenges that the task team must consider.
Some soldiers from the old SADF, especially from units such as the South West African Territory Force and Koevoet — which fought in Namibia and Angola and were disbanded by the De Klerk government, want to be included as they regard themselves as legitimate soldiers of the state at the time.
“Then there are also armies of erstwhile TBVC states (Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei) that should need help,” says Makwetla.
“There is also a group which participated in and survived the two world wars and the Korean conflict that was unevenly compensated on various grounds including racism. They, equally, deserve recognition, like their peers,” he says.
“We are been called on to also look at how the state can help those who fought in the township conflicts — especially between what was described as Inkatha Freedom Party-aligned self-protection units and the ANC or United Democratic Front-aligned self-defence units,” Makwetla says.
“One expected that these issues were clearly defined and resolved during the integration process more than 10 years ago, but the task team does not wish to leave certain matters unresolved, with noises on the sidelines that could end up discrediting the process.
“We are revisiting these matters and finding out why there is still an outcry, and how they could be resolved once and for all,” he says.
With regard to the Azanla and Koevoet units, the task team would present its argument and recommendations to the Cabinet for a final decision. On various township defence units, a researched document would also be compiled and recommendations, based on social development necessities, would be submitted to the Cabinet. “Because they were not trained soldiers, they do not fall under the defence ministry,” he says.
Makwetla says in finding solutions that would alleviate poverty and improve the living conditions of former liberation fighters, the task team will seek to avoid creating an impression that the group is more privileged than ordinary poor South Africans.
“The team must strike a balance such that we do not create a problem of envy of soldiers from any military or political background by ordinary communities who fought tough battles in the townships against the apartheid security forces,” he says.
“This is a special situation about short-term needs that will be addressed with the help and the co- operation of other departments within the social development cluster such as human settlements, social development, health and even labour’s special skills training programmes,” Makwetla says.
Asked what was the likely long- term solution, he says the task team believes that all state soldiers will be adequately catered for “through an all-encompassing defence force human resource policy framework” that will look at building and securing their lives “from recruitment to retirement to the grave”.
Makwetla says a draft document addressing all these issues would be discussed at the stakeholders’ forum involving related state departments, non governmental organisations, policy institutions, civil society and parties next month.
This is what we have requested the Minister to recognize - Training veterans to build moladi houses...
RDP houses from hell
RDP houses from hell - DA
Parliament for the People: Visit to RDP housing projects in Limpopo
On Monday, we visited a number of RDP housing projects in Limpopo along with DA Limpopo Provincial Leader Desiree van der Walt and DA MP Mpowele Swathe. We were also accompanied by DA MPLs Jacobus Smalle and Meisie Kennedy, DA Councillors Danie van Heerden and Moses Matlala, as well as a number of DA members and activists.
We visited three RDP housing projects across the province namely:
an urban RDP housing project in Mokopane in the Mogalakwena municipality;
a rural RDP housing project in the Motwaneng village in Marble Hall;
a rural RDP housing project in the Makurung village in Lepelle-Nkumpi.
Visit our Parliament for the People webpage on the DA Media Centre where we have uploaded a detailed report and photos
By far the most disturbing things we found at the three housing projects we visited were the following:
Houses have been built below ground level which results in sewage from higher lying extensions and rain water flowing into these houses;
Houses have been abandoned by beneficiaries due to this flooding;
Toilets have not been connected to sewerage pipes resulting in residents having to use the fields outside their houses and sewerage flowing into their houses through these open pipes;
No running water or electricity supplied to the houses;
Holes in the roof sheeting and no window panes in many of the houses;
None of the resident's have signed "happy letters" when allocated their houses - a prerequisite which beneficiaries are meant to sign before occupying their houses;
Slabs cast by contractors as far back as 2006 with no building taking place since then;
People who were thrown out of their houses, which were demolished and have not been replaced;
A number of RDP houses that have been half-built and are standing empty as a result;
A family of seven orphans who have been promised a house four years ago are still waiting for their house which has been standing for years without a roof or windows.
We spoke to many of the people living in these three housing developments who told us how government officials visited them before the elections and made numerous promises including supplying them with candles on a regular basis and also that it would start building houses for them from 1 May 2009 - which has not happened.
The situation we found in Limpopo means the following:
The housing backlog in the province continues to grow on a yearly basis;
Money is wasted on building houses that are never completed or occupied;
More money has to be spent to repair or rebuild houses that have not been properly built, resulting in houses costing way more than what was originally budgeted;
A large number of contractors are paid despite reneging on their contracts and no action is ever taken against them.
The people worst affected by the current situation are the ordinary South Africans we met during our visit who continue to live without proper shelter and access to basic services such as running water, proper sanitation and electricity.
It is imperative that both the National Department of Human Settlements and the Limpopo Provincial Department of Local Government and Housing urgently intervene in this regard to ensure that the incomplete houses in the three areas we visited, as well as the rest of the province, are completed, that action is taken against contractors who fail to fulfil their contracts, and that money is spent efficiently and effectively when it comes to the provision of housing.
The DA will therefore be taking a number of action steps at both a national level in Parliament as well as a provincial level through the Limpopo Provincial Legislature to deal with the current housing crisis in Limpopo. We will also conduct a follow-up visit within a year to see whether any improvements have been made to these three housing projects.
We will provide continuous feedback on outcomes of our actions steps as well as what we find during our follow-up visit on our Parliament for the People webpage.
Joint statement by Athol Trollip, MP, Democratic Alliance parliamentary leader, and Butch Steyn, MP, DA shadow minister of human settlements, October 21 2009
Parliament for the People: Visit to RDP housing projects in Limpopo
On Monday, we visited a number of RDP housing projects in Limpopo along with DA Limpopo Provincial Leader Desiree van der Walt and DA MP Mpowele Swathe. We were also accompanied by DA MPLs Jacobus Smalle and Meisie Kennedy, DA Councillors Danie van Heerden and Moses Matlala, as well as a number of DA members and activists.
We visited three RDP housing projects across the province namely:
an urban RDP housing project in Mokopane in the Mogalakwena municipality;
a rural RDP housing project in the Motwaneng village in Marble Hall;
a rural RDP housing project in the Makurung village in Lepelle-Nkumpi.
Visit our Parliament for the People webpage on the DA Media Centre where we have uploaded a detailed report and photos
By far the most disturbing things we found at the three housing projects we visited were the following:
Houses have been built below ground level which results in sewage from higher lying extensions and rain water flowing into these houses;
Houses have been abandoned by beneficiaries due to this flooding;
Toilets have not been connected to sewerage pipes resulting in residents having to use the fields outside their houses and sewerage flowing into their houses through these open pipes;
No running water or electricity supplied to the houses;
Holes in the roof sheeting and no window panes in many of the houses;
None of the resident's have signed "happy letters" when allocated their houses - a prerequisite which beneficiaries are meant to sign before occupying their houses;
Slabs cast by contractors as far back as 2006 with no building taking place since then;
People who were thrown out of their houses, which were demolished and have not been replaced;
A number of RDP houses that have been half-built and are standing empty as a result;
A family of seven orphans who have been promised a house four years ago are still waiting for their house which has been standing for years without a roof or windows.
We spoke to many of the people living in these three housing developments who told us how government officials visited them before the elections and made numerous promises including supplying them with candles on a regular basis and also that it would start building houses for them from 1 May 2009 - which has not happened.
The situation we found in Limpopo means the following:
The housing backlog in the province continues to grow on a yearly basis;
Money is wasted on building houses that are never completed or occupied;
More money has to be spent to repair or rebuild houses that have not been properly built, resulting in houses costing way more than what was originally budgeted;
A large number of contractors are paid despite reneging on their contracts and no action is ever taken against them.
The people worst affected by the current situation are the ordinary South Africans we met during our visit who continue to live without proper shelter and access to basic services such as running water, proper sanitation and electricity.
It is imperative that both the National Department of Human Settlements and the Limpopo Provincial Department of Local Government and Housing urgently intervene in this regard to ensure that the incomplete houses in the three areas we visited, as well as the rest of the province, are completed, that action is taken against contractors who fail to fulfil their contracts, and that money is spent efficiently and effectively when it comes to the provision of housing.
The DA will therefore be taking a number of action steps at both a national level in Parliament as well as a provincial level through the Limpopo Provincial Legislature to deal with the current housing crisis in Limpopo. We will also conduct a follow-up visit within a year to see whether any improvements have been made to these three housing projects.
We will provide continuous feedback on outcomes of our actions steps as well as what we find during our follow-up visit on our Parliament for the People webpage.
Joint statement by Athol Trollip, MP, Democratic Alliance parliamentary leader, and Butch Steyn, MP, DA shadow minister of human settlements, October 21 2009
Low Cost Housing Project in Rietfontein
Low Cost Housing Project in Rietfontein
Residents of Rietfontein are questioning the statement by the Local Municipality of Madibeng two weeks ago that they will not be moving more families into the Refentse Low Cost Housing Project in Rietfontein. They have witnessed family after family moving into the project over the past weeks but the municipality says that the people moving in are doing so illegally. According to residents the families are moving in with the help of vehicles including bakkies. They told Kormorant that they and their children have witnessed the new residents of the low cost housing project using the veld as a toilet and doing their washing outside the houses. Another resident contacted Kormorant to say that her employees have told her that the houses in the Refentse Low Cost Housing Project are being sold to the occupiers. “We were opposed to the project at first and raised our objections as part of the Environmental Impact Assessment process. After assurances by the municipality that the project will not affect us in any way we decided to give it a chance. As things are going now we are sceptical that we will not be severely affected,” one resident said. He expressed his concern about the environment and thought that the residents now living in the project will soon turn to the mountain, which is within the Magalies Mountain Protected Area both for ablutions as well as firewood because there is no infrastructure within the project as yet.The residents’ concerns follows questions by beneficiaries and residents of the Popo Molefe informal settlement in Rietfontein two weeks ago about the status of the project and when they will receive the houses promised to them in 2002. They were even willing to take an empty stand from the municipality and to build their own houses because of the desperate living conditions in the Popo Molefe settlement. In response to Kormorant’s enquiries earlier this month the Local Municipality of Madibeng’s spokesperson, Mr. Patrick Morathi, said that the project was still the subject of a forensic investigation by the Department of Local Government and Housing and the NHBRC and that the municipality has not received the report on this investigation. According to him the investigation found that some of the 150 houses completed will have to be demolished while more houses needed some correction. Morathi said that the allocation of further houses, apart from the 10 families moved there by the municipality in April, will only be done once the status of the project has been clarified with the provincial department and this has not been done yet. Kormorant enquired about the new families that are moving into the project last week. Morathi said in response to these enquiries that these families are illegally invading the houses as there has been no official handover of houses to beneficiaries by the municipality. According to him the infrastructure, including the water and sanitation, have not been installed yet and that the municipality is only providing these services to the ten families moved into the front houses of the project in April. Mobile toilets have been provided for these families and water is taken to them by a water tanker on a regular basis. Morathi said that the municipality will not take responsibility for the provision of these services to the illegal occupiers and they would then logically have to make alternative arrangements themselves. He said that the municipality will be investigating the fact that vehicles used by the illegal occupiers are let in at the gate and will take up the matter with the responsible security company. Morathi said that the municipality is considering steps to remove the illegal occupiers.
Residents of Rietfontein are questioning the statement by the Local Municipality of Madibeng two weeks ago that they will not be moving more families into the Refentse Low Cost Housing Project in Rietfontein. They have witnessed family after family moving into the project over the past weeks but the municipality says that the people moving in are doing so illegally. According to residents the families are moving in with the help of vehicles including bakkies. They told Kormorant that they and their children have witnessed the new residents of the low cost housing project using the veld as a toilet and doing their washing outside the houses. Another resident contacted Kormorant to say that her employees have told her that the houses in the Refentse Low Cost Housing Project are being sold to the occupiers. “We were opposed to the project at first and raised our objections as part of the Environmental Impact Assessment process. After assurances by the municipality that the project will not affect us in any way we decided to give it a chance. As things are going now we are sceptical that we will not be severely affected,” one resident said. He expressed his concern about the environment and thought that the residents now living in the project will soon turn to the mountain, which is within the Magalies Mountain Protected Area both for ablutions as well as firewood because there is no infrastructure within the project as yet.The residents’ concerns follows questions by beneficiaries and residents of the Popo Molefe informal settlement in Rietfontein two weeks ago about the status of the project and when they will receive the houses promised to them in 2002. They were even willing to take an empty stand from the municipality and to build their own houses because of the desperate living conditions in the Popo Molefe settlement. In response to Kormorant’s enquiries earlier this month the Local Municipality of Madibeng’s spokesperson, Mr. Patrick Morathi, said that the project was still the subject of a forensic investigation by the Department of Local Government and Housing and the NHBRC and that the municipality has not received the report on this investigation. According to him the investigation found that some of the 150 houses completed will have to be demolished while more houses needed some correction. Morathi said that the allocation of further houses, apart from the 10 families moved there by the municipality in April, will only be done once the status of the project has been clarified with the provincial department and this has not been done yet. Kormorant enquired about the new families that are moving into the project last week. Morathi said in response to these enquiries that these families are illegally invading the houses as there has been no official handover of houses to beneficiaries by the municipality. According to him the infrastructure, including the water and sanitation, have not been installed yet and that the municipality is only providing these services to the ten families moved into the front houses of the project in April. Mobile toilets have been provided for these families and water is taken to them by a water tanker on a regular basis. Morathi said that the municipality will not take responsibility for the provision of these services to the illegal occupiers and they would then logically have to make alternative arrangements themselves. He said that the municipality will be investigating the fact that vehicles used by the illegal occupiers are let in at the gate and will take up the matter with the responsible security company. Morathi said that the municipality is considering steps to remove the illegal occupiers.
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