14 500 government-built houses in N Cape require remedial work

THE NORTHERN Cape is facing a major challenge with faulty government-built housing structures, with almost 14 500 houses requiring remedial work.

This emerged during a parliamentary portfolio committee meeting on human settlements, water and sanitation during which the Northern Cape Department of Human Settlements briefed the committee on its 2020/21 business plan and district development model.

It was pointed out in the meeting that the Northern Cape had received an allocation of R319 million for the period under review, of which R47 million had been ring-fenced for the Informal Settlements Upgrade Programme. 

Bafedile Lenkoe, head of department (HOD), Northern Cape Department of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (COGHSTA), stated that the budget was a challenge, while Covid-19 had impacted on the Province’s ability to spend its allocated funds, as no construction had been done during the lockdown period. When construction resumed, contractors would need to re-establish sites and consideration would also have to be given to extend completion dates of contracts.

The Northern Cape had also allocated R14 million towards the emergency commitment and expenditure on the impact of Covid-19 on poor communities situated in densely populated areas.

In terms of the Northern Cape District Development Model, the department pointed out that the main emphasis would be on the Frances Baard region, which was significant, as it housed the capital city, and a newly inaugurated university, and had experienced exponential population growth.

The Province also intended to focus on six mining towns, which had been allocated a collective budget of R90 million. The Frances Baard region had been allocated an amount of R73 million.

It was stated in the meeting that the almost 14 500 cases of houses that required remedial work had also been catered for in the District Development Model.

The MEC for Human Settlements, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Bentley Vass, pointed out that the high housing rectification rate in the Northern Cape was regrettable, and added that the issue had received widespread attention, especially from the Public Protector and the Human Rights Commission, which had launched investigations into matter. He said the Province had been in ongoing discussions with the contractors responsible for substandard building practices on the need to rectify their mistakes.

In terms of water and sanitation, it was stated that 10 727 households in formal areas in the Province had no water access, compared to 10 175 households in informal areas. A total of 34 464 households had no access to sanitation services in formal areas, compared to 18 914 households in informal areas.

The five district municipalities needed about R22 billion to address water infrastructure needs, and about R6 billion for sanitation infrastructure. The Province had earmarked 20 projects to alleviate some of the challenges experienced.

The vacancy rate in the Province was also identified as a challenge, as about 31 posts were vacant.

Vass pointed out that the Province had a housing backlog of 77 000 and lamented the marginal budget earmarked for housing, commenting that R26 million had been taken by National Treasury (NT). While the Province had submitted a recovery plan to NT, the latter had not considered it. The result had been that the Northern Cape had not been able to pay service providers that had completed committed projects.

Vass stated further that the R20 million earmarked for drought relief was mostly utilised to purchase water tanks and the Province had procured 800 water tanks for drought mitigation.

Meanwhile, it was pointed out that a contractor had been supposed to deliver 66 housing units meant for military veterans, but had ended up delivering only 32 units in Kimberley. The work on the project had stalled after the contractor ran out of funds.