Gauteng’s housing crisis: 150 years to clear the backlog

It is going to take 150 years to clear the housing backlog in Gauteng if the department of human settlements continues to build, on average, only 9 000 houses a year.

This is according to the DA’s human settlements portfolio committee member, Evert du Plessis, who added: “This is based on the fact that the department only delivered 43 050 (3.3%) houses in five years”.

After 30 years of democracy, the department has admitted more than 1.3 million people are still on the housing list, waiting for roof over their heads in the province.

1.3 million still on list

One of the people is 55-year-old Nomusa Xhakaza, who applied in 1997, and to date has not received the house.

“For years I was told to wait and then, in 2020, when I went to [the human settlements] offices, I was told my name had been approved for housing and that it was at Kaalfontein,” said Xhakaza.

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“However, when it was time to move, I was told someone else had occupied my house and the story changed. They told me I had taken too long to accept the house so they gave it to someone who had paid R100 000 for it.”

Xhakaza said she was told to reapply and stand at the back of the queue.

“I believe there was corruption involved. They told me about that person who paid for the house because they also want me to pay, but where will I get that kind of money from?”

Corruption involved?

When asked why are they were at such a slow pace, Tasneem Motara, MEC for human settlements and cooperative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta), said: “The construction of houses is budget-dependent. Housing construction is grant-funded.

“Gauteng is allocated out of the allocation the national department receives from Treasury.”

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Motara said the budget would never be enough to build what they wanted.

“But we built all houses that we were allocated funds for. We will do the same this year. All departments have suffered budget cuts and it has affected the number of houses we are able to build.”

Motara also responded to questions in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature about corruption within the housing project.

Corruption within project

“The department is aware of the many various scams across the province of individuals posing as officials or agents of the department. These matters are referred to the antifraud and corruption unit for further investigations,” said Motara.

She said she did not have a database to quantify the corruption.

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“Not all corrupt activities have been reported to authorities.

“For instance, where people have ‘bought’ an allocation, that money doesn’t go to the government, but to criminal syndicates who ‘sell’ allocations.”

The MEC said between 2019 and this year, the department has delivered 43 050 houses.

Over 45 000 houses delivered

“These include houses from Mega and Legacy programmes, blocked or abandoned projects, as well as disbursed Flisp subsidies.”

In the past financial year, R3.2 billion was spent on housing construction for 7 072 houses.

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Thembisile Masimini said she has been on the waiting list since 2011. “I rent a one-room house for R1 800 a month.

“I barely survive because I get temporary jobs and I need to support my two children. One of them has a medical condition.”

Masimini said she thought parents with sickly children would be prioritised, but that has not been the case.

Parent of sickly child not priorities

Motara said the allocation was guided by a policy, “which states that 40% is allocated to those who applied between 1996 and 1999, then we allocate according to other designated groups such as people living with disabilities, military veterans, residents relocated from informal settlements”.

Du Plessis said the long wait for housing needed to come to an end.

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“The low percentage of houses built and allocated in the past five years highlights the current government’s unmistakable incompetence in alleviating the suffering of poor residents in this province.”