Department reports to Parliament’s Select Committee

The upgrading of eight informal settlements with 5 540 units and construction of 12 800 houses is currently underway in the province, according to Department of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (Coghsta) Deputy Director General Phillip Chauke. He presented a report of Coghsta to Parliament’s Select Committee on Social Services on Thursday.
He informed Chairperson Cathy Dlamini that the department has delivered 4 739 housing units (52%) so far this financial year against a target of 8 998 units for the financial year and that average progress to date on services was 59%.
Chauke said the number of households qualifying for subsidised housing support increased by 192% between 1996 and 2011 and that a serious drop in delivery between 2009 and 2014 needed to be recovered.
Around 56 945 households lived in informal settlements, concentrated in the special economic zones and economically viable towns in the province such as Polokwane, Mogalakwena, Tubatse, Lephalale, Musina and Thabazimbi.
The backlog in title deed delivery in Limpopo stood at 42 391, with 2 682 title deeds delivered in 2014/15 and 2015/16.
Chauke described factors impacting on delivery as delays in township establishment and proclamations, proliferation in informal settlements, delays in conveyancing, poor project management, institutional relationships and land legal matters such as the transfer of state land.
Chauke reported on the procurement strategy plan for the 2016/17 to 2018/19 infrastructure projects as well as monitoring mechanisms for infrastructure projects put in place. He said contractors chronically defaulting on delivery schedules of contracts will lose units which will be re-allocated to other contractors on the database or their services will be terminated and they will be blacklisted.
The department was commended by the chairperson on progress made with the allocation of houses for military veterans. She wanted to know what the cost per unit would be and asked what is the problem and why it was difficult to transfer land belonging to the state and how the department was dealing with it.
See other stories regarding the oversight visit elsewhere.

Story and photo: NELIE ERASMUS
>>nelie.observer@gmail.com

Featured photo: Phillip Chauke, acting Deputy Director General of Coghsta.