No more shoddy work and corruption in construction of RDPs, says minister

Human Settlements Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi will not tolerate any shoddy or slow work and corruption in the construction of RDP houses in Limpopo and anywhere else in South Africa.

She said this on Thursday during her visit to assess progress made by the Limpopo cooperative, human settlement and traditional affairs department on the construction and allocation of RDP houses.

Since her appointment in August Kubayi has been criss-crossing the country to check progress made in the provision of sanitation. She has been to KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, Eastern Cape, Free State and the Northern Cape.

On Thursday she was in Ext 133 in Seshego, near Polokwane.

“When I was deployed in this department, I told myself I am going to improve the rate of service delivery in human settlement in this country for the benefit of our people,” she said.

“I told myself I will not rest until I know all targeted people have a roof over their heads. But above all I told myself I am going to work as a team with all in the department to make sure the type of shelter we give to our people is of good quality and that our housing units are awarded to our people at a given stipulated time frame.”

According to Kubayi, 200 000 RDP houses have been built since 1994. She said all the houses were awarded to qualified beneficiaries, mostly from impoverished backgrounds.

“When poor workmanship is discovered… we apply disciplinary measures against those are found wanting,” said Kubayi.

“We don’t tolerate mediocrity, but we make sure we deliver breathtaking houses that always stands the test of time because we always have the interest of all our people at heart.”

Asked about the progress made at the controversial Talana tin houses in Tzaneen, Kubayi said six officials from the National Development Agency (NDA) were identified for wrong doing.

She said they were expected to appear in court soon.

“I met with the Special Investigative Unit (SIU) where they briefed me. According to their investigations, no officials in my or MEC [Basikopo] Makamu’s departments were found to have had blood in their hands.”

Kubayi said the SIU is working towards recouping the money from the implicated officials.

“We are currently planning to go back to site to start with construction. But we are still at the planning stage and once we are done, the people of Tzaneen will have proper roofs over their heads because as the department we believe sanitation is dignity.”

This financial year, Limpopo budgeted more than R900 million for the construction of RDP houses in the province.

“About 1510 sites with water and sanitation infrastructure were allocated and 1 413 housing beneficiaries were issued with endorsed title deeds,” cooperative governance, human settlement and traditional affairs MEC Basikop Makamu said on Tuesday.

“In this financial year we planned to roll out 28 units for military veterans, in addition to units from the previous financial year to make them 50 units.”

Last financial year, the department returned unspent R50 million to National Treasury. Makamu said he was dealing with the issue. “The problem was in our project management unit, which was not running as fast as expected, and our procurement system unit, which was also taking time to complete its processes. That is why we failed to spend.

“But that is the mistake that will never be repeated this financial year.”

– news@citizen.co.za