The Gauteng Human Settlements Department (GDHS) has again shown a disturbing lack of transparency in managing its housing projects. This has left beneficiaries stranded, with no clear indication of when or if they will ever receive the government-subsidised housing they desperately need.
The department’s failure to produce a project plan that covers the entire lifecycle of housing projects makes it impossible to determine when the project will deliver the housing. This situation arises because planning and building on housing projects only takes place when budgets become available, entrenching a stop-start approach. This leaves beneficiaries unsure whether they will receive accommodation in the next five, ten, or even twenty years.
This haphazard, piecemeal approach does not only impact the intended beneficiaries but also the contractors working on these projects. With no consistent funding, contractors are forced to stop and start work, pushing them into financial distress.
These failures are exemplified by two mega projects in the province. Despite being allocated R454.5 million over eight years, the Goudrand Mega Project in Durban Deep, Roodepoort, has completed only 864 units. Similarly, the Savanna City Project, which has been running for 13 years, has produced only 2880 housing units and 3599 serviced stands.
The prolonged duration of these projects and others, many of which have remained unfinished after a number of years, demonstrates the department’s failure to meet its mandate of providing housing for Gauteng’s residents.
The DA demands that the MEC for Human Settlements, Tasneem Motara, interacts with the Portfolio Committee and provides actionable plans to increase the pace of housing delivery. Failure to do so will prompt the DA to write to the Human Rights Commission, demanding intervention as this is an infringement on the residents’ right to access adequate housing.
A DA government would not put all its eggs in one basket by pinning all its hopes of increasing the rate of housing development on one strategy, namely building multiple mega-housing projects all over the province. It would instead do the following:
• Develop only when the budget is available, and not plough billions into developments that limp along for decades and deteriorate or are vandalised.
• Densify development in existing developed areas rather than building on the periphery, far from economic nodes and jobs.
• Improve the quality of project management by employing people with skills and experience.
• Enhance the relationship with the private sector to entice them to contribute skills and finance to public sector housing projects.
Housing is a constitutional right. The Human Settlements Department must do more to ensure that this right is protected.