MEC for Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs in the North West Province, Oageng Molapisi, has acknowledged that his department is currently facing housing backlogs.
Molapisi was speaking recently at the National Council of Provinces’ debate on housing inadequacy in South Africa and the prevalence of informal settlements.
He said the non-effective operational municipal system was one of the problems that hinders and delays his department from providing adequate housing to the people.
Inadequate RDP houses
The North West has been battling with the challenges of incomplete RDP houses. This prompted the South African Human Rights Commission’s to launch an investigation on the longstanding issue of incomplete and inadequate RDP houses.
Molapisi said the department was aware of the municipal infrastructure units’ shortcomings. He said such deterioration of the infrastructure had a negative effect on housing delivery.
He cited budget cuts and an increase in population as other factors impacting the delivery of houses in the province.
“For instance, the province used to get R2-billion in grant funding nearly 10 years ago. But like many provinces, that has since changed. The targeted delivery of homes and serviced sites decreased as a result of budget cuts. It cut off R400-million, just two fiscal years ago,” he said.
Molapisi said his department will continue to monitor the expansion of informal settlements. This is particularly in the mining towns due to potential employment opportunities.
Land invasions, informal settlements
He said municipalities were inundated with constant land invasions, putting pressure on the department. The department is thus forced to respond expeditiously to provide basic services. And this disrupts the normal planning cycle and processes.
“We cannot shy away from the fact that informal settlements are increasing. It is for this reason that the National Department of Human Settlements has adopted the White Paper for Human Settlements (2024). [The paper] provides for a tacit approach to address challenges arising from informal settlements. The North West Department of Human Settlements has just completed an informal settlement upgrading strategy. This aims to align and play our part. And after this, it will commence with informal settlement upgrading projects.”
Molapisi also said he was working to resolve the challenges of bulk infrastructure at affected municipalities.
Bulk infrastructure projects
“Through the CoGTA Bulk Infrastructure Committee, we have taken advantage of the Infrastructure South Africa (ISA) bid window to apply for bulk infrastructure projects. We are working around the clock to try to source available funding to alleviate the situation.
“And wee remain committed to creating sustainable human settlements. The restoration of our people’s dignity rests in housing them in habitable homes with basic amenities. The department is putting the spotlight on issues of lack of bulk infrastructure for human settlements projects. Also promoting integration of social and economic aspects. And thereby yielding dividends in terms of spatial planning, community services and broader quality of life for our citizens,” added Molapisi.
