DA raises alarm about Gauteng housing targets not being met

In a statement on Thursday morning, the DA in Gauteng said it was concerning that the ANC-led Gauteng administration was apparently weighed down by inefficiencies in providing houses for people oppressed by poverty.

“They consistently underspend on their allocated budget and are unable to meet targets,” said the party’s shadow MEC for human settlements, Mervyn Cirota.

The human settlements department’s first quarterly report for the 2017/18 financial year revealed it had underspent by 69% in the Housing Development Programme in Gauteng.

“The department has also failed to meet all of its targets,” added Cirota.

“The planned target of 50 houses to be built for provincial specific programmes was not achieved. The target of 60 projects planned using building technologies (IBTs) was not achieved. Twenty Community Residential Units were identified for conversion, but this target was also not met.”

He added that 1,050 stands were supposed to be serviced as part of the first phase of the Integrated Residential Development Programme (IRDP) but this also did not happen.

“In addition, of the planned target of 1,627 stands serviced for the IRDP Phase Two, only 1,229 stands were serviced with a shortfall of 398 stands.

“The department claims that none of these targets was met because of the delay in appointing contractors, the slow pace of work by the contractors and interference by the local business forum.”

These excuses did not hold water for Cirota, however, as the department was “fully furnished with all the required resources and budget” and could therefore not be allowed to completely miss all its targets.

“This is a clear indication that the ANC has failed in its mandate to provide houses for our poor people, and make excuse after excuse for not delivering.

“The Gauteng premier, David Makhura and human settlements MEC, Uhuru Moiloa, are paying lip service and continue to break their promises.

He pointed out that the Gauteng housing waiting list had now reached more than a million.

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