Human Settlements Budgetary Review Recommendations Report; Committee Report on North West Province oversight

Meeting report

The Chairperson welcomed everyone. She said the purpose of the meeting is to consider and adopt outstanding minutes as well as two reports: Human Settlements Budgetary Review Recommendations Report and the Oversight Report to North West Province.

Minutes of 3 October 2017

The Chairperson said that there are 2 sets of minutes of 3 October 2017. The agenda of the first set of minutes was as follows:

-Briefing by the Office of the Auditor-General South Africa on the Audit Outcomes of the Annual Performance Report of the Department of Human Settlements for 2016/17 financial year and its entities.

-Briefing by the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation on the performance of the Department of Human Settlements for 2016/17 financial year and its entities.

The Committee went through the document page by page.

Members were satisfied that the document was an accurate reflection of proceedings.

Ms M Nkadimeng (ANC) moved for the adoption of the minutes.

Mr H Mmemezi (ANC) seconded the move.

The Committee adopted the minutes with no changes.

The agenda of the second set of minutes of 3 October 2017 was as follows:

-Briefing by the Department of Human Settlements on its Annual Report 2016/17.

-Briefing by the Social Housing Registration Authority (SHRA) on its Annual Report 2016/17.

The Committee went through the document page by page.

Members were satisfied that the document was an accurate reflection of proceedings.

Mr Memezi moved for the adoption of minutes.

Ms Nkadimeng seconded the move.

The Committee adopted the minutes with no changes.

Minutes of 4 October 2017

-The Committee was briefed on Annual Reports for the 2016/17 financial year by the following entities: the National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC); Rural Housing Home Loans (RHLF); National Urban Reconstruction and Housing Agency (NURCHA); and the National Housing Finance Corporation (NHFC).

-Briefing by the Financial Fiscal Commission (FFC) on the outcomes of the Annual Report of the Department of Human Settlements 2016/17 financial year and its entities.

The Committee went through the document page by page.

Members were satisfied that the document was an accurate reflection of proceedings.

Mr Memezi moved for the adoption of minutes.

Ms Nkadimeng seconded the move.

The Committee adopted the minutes with no amendments.

Minutes of 5 October 2017

On the agenda the Committee was briefed on Annual Reports for 2016/17 financial year by the following entities: Housing Development Agency, Estate Agent Affairs Board and Community Schemes Ombudsman Services

The Committee went through the document page by page.

Members were satisfied that the document was an accurate reflection of proceedings.

Mr L Khoarai (ANC) moved for the adoption of the minutes

Mr Memezi seconded the move.

The Committee adopted the minutes with no changes.

Report of the Portfolio Committee on its Oversight Visit to the North West Province

The Committee went through the document page by page.

The Chairperson said the report was sent to Members of the Committee beforehand so that today they can make amendments to the report. She highlighted that the most important part in the report is to look at the recommendations on page 30 of the report.

Amongst others, the recommendations included:

The Minister is requested to provide a report to the Committee by the end of October 2017.

The Committee further recommended that the National Department must assist the Provincial Department with a recovery plan, with clearly defined timeframes and recommendations.

There must also be a fast track on the accreditation of municipality, revitalization of distressed mining towns as well as upgrading of informal settlements and furnish reports on distressed mining towns.

The Department must further furnish a report on its engagement with ESKOM to resolve the issue of overhead of electrical pilots.

The Department must hold discussions with the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs on provision of bulk infrastructure and services.

The Department must assess and register the remainder of houses affected by natural disaster as well as assist the disaster affected communities due to earth tremor.

Ensure that the provincial department and municipalities utilise the Housing Development Grant set aside for bulk services.

Furnish reasons for the blockage regarding paid projects in the province as well as plans to unblock them.

Explain the role of the Housing Agency in land acquisition specifically 2 pieces of land in the Moses Kotane Municipality.

Engage mining houses on their role and commitment to agreements.

Adjust the qualifications criteria to ensure people with a wide variety of housing circumstances are accommodated.

Non-performing contractors must be terminated and poor performing contractors should be scaled down.

Ensure that quantitative delivery of houses is in line with strategic plans and budgets. This was critical because it poses a direct threat to the National Development Plan trend.

Ensure that there are adequate funds for bulk infrastructure and coupled with that compliance with policy programmes and principles should be closely monitored.

Improve intergovernmental relations within the human settlements sector. The national department and municipalities should align all grants to ensure bulk infrastructure is in place before the implementation of programmes and projects.

Monitor closely on a quarterly basis the performance of the provincial department until it is convinced that its performance is optimal. At this juncture both the national department and the provincial department should assist municipalities in improving their performance.

The Chairperson said those are the recommendations that are based on the Committee's visit to the North West and it is the most important part of the report.

Mr M Bara (DA) said he is not sure if he might be confusing other provinces the Committee visited but he recalled there was an issue around houses that were completed but not occupied that would require renovations before being allocated.

The Chairperson said that issue was in Mpumalanga

Mr Bara asked if there was a block of flats that were completed but not occupied.

Mr Bara said there was something to the effect that a lease must be in place so that when a unit of flats is completed people should occupy them immediately as opposed to having to renovate already completed structures.

The Chairperson agreed with Mr Bara on that issue of immediate occupation which was agreed to with management of the construction company

Ms L Mnganga-Gcabashe (ANC) corrected wording in pages 33 and 34 of the report.

The Chairperson explained that this was the recommendation that the national department should monitor closely the performance of the provincial department until it is convince that it is optimal.

Mr Memezi made a correction to page 31 which talked about the attendance of the provincial steering committee by municipalities.

The Chairperson explained that the recommendation came as a result of municipalities not attending the provincial steering committee. It’s just rephrasing which needs to be done in that recommendation.

Mr Khoarai moved for the adoption of the report with amendments.

Ms V Bam-Mungwanya (ANC) seconded the move.

The Committee adopted the report with amendments.

Human Settlements Budgetary Review Recommendations Report

The Chairperson read through the report page by page.

The Committee agreed with the content of the report but made some grammatical corrections and rephrased sentences to make the report clearer.

Ms Nkandimeng moved for the adoption of the report.

Mr Memezi seconded the move.

The Committee adopted the report with amendments.

Ms M Mokause (EFF) said that her party objects to the adoption of the report and will make its submission and inputs to the House.

The meeting was adjourned.