Department of Human Settlements & Western Cape Rental Housing Tribunal Annual Reports 2021/2022

Meeting report

Western Cape Rental Housing Tribunal Annual Report 2021/22

Mr Lionel Esterhuizen, Chairperson, Western Cape Housing Rental Tribunal (RHT), said the RHT had made progress in the three years since it drew up its five-year strategic plan. Despite the COVID-19 challenges, the RHT has done well on its strategic objectives. It had improved efficiencies and measured itself against what the Rental Housing Act said on finalising complaints within three months after they had been lodged. It had tried to bring services closer to the poorer communities. The COVID-19 pandemic hampered community outreach, but now the RHT has aggressively campaigned to communities and municipalities. The response from municipalities had been positive.

The Customer Relations Management System (CRMS) was fully operational even though there were a few teething problems. Paperwork had been reduced. The move to a modern building with new facilities enabled people to participate virtually in hearings when they could not attend. The structure of the RHT did not allow enough space for stakeholder engagement, but there was a dedicated team for outreach and communication so that people were aware of the RHT’s services.

Discussion

Mr P Marran (ANC) remarked that Communicare had been in the news for the past two years. In a recent court application to evict, the court found that Communicare did not follow the required procedures. He asked why the procedures were not followed. Also, he wanted to know if Communicare was the owner of other properties as well, because the company had indicated it would appeal the decision of the court.

Mr Esterhuizen said the parties in that particular case were Communicare, which was the rental institution, and the tenants. The RHT was not party to the dispute, and the matter did not belong to the RHT. He said he would leave it open for the DHS to respond to the matter.

An official from the Department said that only 10 percent of Communicare stock was government-supported and the rest was private stock. Subsidies were provided for the social housing stock. Where subsidies were provided, the Social Housing Regulatory Authority (SARA) would require strict reporting in terms of Communicare’s collection rates and processes instituted for the portion of social housing stock.

Ms C Murray (DA) wanted to know what steps had been taken to address backlogs in public participation in regulatory processes.
 
An official from the RHT stated that two public hearings were held according to the regulations. One was held in Cape Town and the other in Plettenberg Bay. That process had run its course and the regulations were expected to come into effect during the latter part of the current year.

The Chairperson wanted to understand why the impact of COVID-19 was not reflected in the payments to RHT members, because during the 2020/21 period, there were no physical meetings, but only virtual ones. She also wanted to know why there had been a decrease in the number of cases opened compared to other years. Had people lost trust in the system or was something exceptional being done?

Mr Esterhuizen said the fewer cases were due to a mix of circumstances. Plus minus
10 000 rental disputes were received before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, the figure went down to 1 793. Enquiries from the call centre indicated it was fully operational, but people did not call. During the year under review, the number increased to 3 000. They were expected to increase because tenants and landlords were fighting as there was no income during the lockdown. There has been a drop in complaints during the past financial years. This contributed to the low number of opened cases. There had been a backlog of cases, but the staff tried to attend to most of them. The systems have also been improved.

Mr Nathan Adriaanse, Head of Communications and Stakeholder Relations, RHT, stated that payments to members were around R3 million in 2019. They decreased to R2.4 million in 2020 and increased to R3.7 million in 2021. Regarding the backlog eradication strategy, the RHT used a process of dual hearings and had a full complement of members. There were only five members in the past, but now two additional members have been added. This assisted in eradicating the backlogs, but some costs also went with that.

Mr D America (DA) commended the RHT for its progress in decreasing the backlogs, given the difficult past two years. He wanted to know the compliance rate with rulings that had been issued and whether complainants had received relief awarded to them. He asked for clarity on default rulings and whether applications were still dealt with in the turnaround cycle of three months.

Mr Esterhuizen said the rulings of the RHT had the same weight as those of magistrates’ courts. The Act provided that non-compliance with rulings constituted a criminal offence and could be punished as such. If the rulings had to do with money and there was no compliance, the RHT would issue an order for a sale in execution that was taken to the sheriff, who would attach the valuables of the respondent. The amounts involved in rulings were substantial. Unfortunately, that was where the RHT’s involvement stopped, because there was no formal mandate for them to follow up and enquire how much had been made from a sale in execution.

There were also other rulings, when it came to compliance, where landlords had disposed of tenants. Orders issued by the RHT would request the sheriff of the court to assist those tenants to go and retrieve their goods, and the SA Police Service would be asked to assist with keeping order.

There were cases where the RHT experienced problems in executing its orders, for example, when the landlord was overseas.

Regarding default hearings, if a respondent did not respond for various reasons, the RHT ensured proper service so that the respondent knew about the hearing. If the respondent did not appear, the hearing continued in their absence. Only one application has been taken on review so far. It was rare for default judgments to be taken on review. All applications were finalised within three months. If a person wanted to take a ruling on review, the process was in the hands of that person. In most cases, the RHT abided by the decisions of the High Court.

Mr Marran wanted to know about the types of complaints received. He asked if a vacancy left by Mr N van Staden had been filled, and if support staff vacancies had been filled. Did the RHT have enough staff to carry out its mandate?

Mr Esterhuizen said that if a complaint was about money, such as deposit refunds, the RHT would issue a ruling that indicated the portion of the refund that should be made. If there was no compliance by the respondent, the complainant could approach the RHT which would follow the necessary processes. If a complaint involved maintenance, the RHT would look at the agreement between the landlord and tenant to determine who was responsible for maintenance. If maintenance was to be done, inspectors or investigators would be sent to see if it had been carried out. Some of the processes also considered the reduction of rental if the landlord does not do maintenance. Cases involving the giving of unlawful notice were mostly handled by support staff. If there was no compliance, the RHT would follow necessary processes. 

Mr Adriaanse stated that a decision was taken not to fill the post left by Mr van Staden at the end of February 2022. A quorum of three members was all needed when there was a hearing. The RHT was trying to be efficient in its use of resources. The existing members were able to deal with the caseload. The RHT had 27 employees in the sub-directorate. There were no unfilled vacancies, but more resources were needed, especially in marketing the RHT.

The Chairperson asked when the bulk of complaints about Communicare were received. She noted that of the 500 plus RHT hearings, only 434 cases were attended to.

Mr Esterhuizen said the bulk of Communicare complaints were received during the 2019/20 period. That involved about 760 complaints. Most of the cases had been dealt with during the financial year under review and in the previous financial year. Subsequently, the RHT received about 30 complaints that did not involve the same issues. The previous complaints were about increases in rental, but the ones being received now concerned maintenance issues and had not been brought to the RHT for hearings. These cases were being investigated. It should be noted that Communicare had not increased rentals in the past two financial years, and that explained why there had been no complaints about rentals. 

Mr Nkosana Vaveki, Western Cape RHT, said that during the 2020/21 period, there were 565 scheduled hearings. Of these, 154 were postponed and 380 cases were finalised. During the course of the year under review, most postponed cases were concluded, and some were closed while others fell off. Not all complaints resulted in a hearing. Hearings only happened when mediation between tenants and landlords had failed.

Mr Esterhuizen said they were dealing with something moving, not static, because some of the postponed cases would be heard in the following financial year. It was not straightforward mathematics. A written explanation would be sent to the Committee of what constituted the 565 cases and the status quo.

In his closing remarks, he stated that their focus would be on bringing their services to the poorest communities, and this would be reflected in the next annual report.

Western Cape Department of Human Settlements Annual Report 2021/22

The Minister of Human Settlements in the Western Cape, Mr Tertius Simmers, said there were key components that had to be kept in mind when looking at the annual report of the Department of Human Settlements (DHS). There were success stories which sought to create a fine balance within the fiscal reality, and there were challenges faced by the Department in its current form. The Department managed to deliver more than 1 000 housing opportunities and transferred more than 8 000 title deeds. Under the circumstances, the team had done well. The Department also started an innovative housing project at Cape Agulhas.

The three spheres of government and the private sector had worked together on tenanted housing unit projects to achieve what had seemed impossible within two years. The Department also gave hope to women and youth in the construction industry. The targets had been exceeded.

The Department had to balance a dwindling budget allocation with executing its mandate. The focus was on providing affordable housing, which saw the delivery of state housing subsidies in the province, especially in the outlying areas. However, the problem had been within the metro area because of its complexity.

The informal settlement upgrading grant had also been institutionalised. Even though there were teething problems, the municipalities were informed about how to go about this grant. The Department had called on the Department of Local Government to make the councils accountable. A partnership had been established with the Garden Route District Municipality for level one accreditation and completion of district housing plans. The Department had been approached by a second municipality as well.

The challenges were listed in the annual report.

There was a growing lack of infrastructure capacity to carry out new projects. The Department had tried to assist and intervene where it could, but that fell within the local government sphere. Technical skills were scarce in local government and the Department had to assist with. Projects had been unlocked in George.

Another challenge lay with the communities themselves. They invaded land and housing units and prevented projects from being implemented. That was where the aspect of ignorance came in. Communities needed to take ownership of these projects. The community development forums or “construction mafias” hindered progress, because, at some point, the Department had to go to court so that it could deliver housing units to the communities. That was why the Department had to work smarter with the neighbourhood watches, City of Cape Town law enforcement and the SA Police Service to protect the projects.

During the year under review, the Department had concluded a hybrid project model which all municipalities had supported. Depending on the municipality's capacity, the Department became the developer for the entire process, while the municipality administered the beneficiaries’ waiting list.

The DHS would now merge with the Department of Infrastructure, providing many opportunities for the province and its citizens. There was a need to change and to be something else.

Ms Kahmiela August, Acting Head of Department, said there was a lot of forward-thinking, responsiveness and innovation within the Department. This was being applied to informal settlements and housing projects. The innovative guidelines developed during the year would change how the Department delivered its services.

The Department had managed to attract R70 million from the National Housing Finance Corporation (NHFC) for the Finance Linked Individual Subsidy Programme (FLISP), a sum that was significantly higher than in other provinces. The Department continued to look at the spending on empowerment and training. Multi-year housing plans had been approved. The teams appearing before the committee had to be acknowledged for getting to the root causes of the challenges facing the Department.

The Chairperson noted that during the year, the Committee had not engaged much with the Department about the services it was extending to municipalities, the challenges they were facing, and the good stories about the Department the municipalities had to share with the Committee. 

Discussion

Mr M Xego (EFF) said the Minister had made critical remarks about community development forums. In many cases, projects were stalled by negative relations within communities. He wanted to know what the Department was trying to do to soothe relations, especially when the construction development forums sought to make money from these projects while ordinary citizens were waiting for services to be delivered.

He asked for clarity on the under-achievement of the planned targets for housing units for 2020/2021; the under-achievement on serviced sites; and the under-expenditure on programmes one, two and four.

He asked how many integration programmes had brought people closer to their communities. When people were settled, access to schools and clinics was sometimes not considered. This created a problem for parents when they applied for schooling for their children, because they were outside the demarcated areas. How many of the integrated projects were putting people closer to the city where they worked?

What caused underachievement in the issuing of title deeds? He sought clarity on the under-expenditure of R4.8 million, considering that most people lived in shacks. He asked about the rollover of R8 million in programme three for relocation of unlawful occupants. Had the Department found alternative accommodation for the occupants? Would they be taken to vacant land or proper housing units?

He asked if there were plans to appoint a permanent replacement in the Department's organisational structure because the acting HOD was also a chief director in the Department.

The Minister commented that Mr Xego was right in his remarks about what he, as a Minister, had said about community development forums. Communities had to benefit from the economic gains the housing projects created. To ensure participation from the planning stage to the day the key was handed over, the Department had a project steering committee representing the interests of the beneficiaries of the projects. A draft agreement was signed on the social responsibility targets that the contractor had to reach. The contractors had to look for sub-contractors within the catchment area to create employment opportunities and skills development. The steering committee assisted the Minister and Department to ensure the communities were kept abreast of progress.

The community development forums had a totally different objective. They were not acting in the greater interests of the beneficiaries and communities. He respected a legally registered community development forum that had a constitution and leadership and which acted in the best interests of the community. But the problem came when a contractor was appointed and the community development forum closed down the site with violent intentions until its preferred subcontractor was contracted to the contractor. That was not acting in the interests of the community and beneficiaries. A legitimate process had been institutionalised within the Department to keep the communities abreast. Where there was backing from a ward councillor and support from the Department, the project ran smoothly. Everything was done through the steering committees.

The Minister said the Khayelitsha Development Forum was a credible structure he had engaged within the year under review. It played a constructive supporting role. He had problems with development forums that were there for personal gain because that had a negative impact on the project planning and implementation stage.

Regarding serviced sites, he said that stoppages caused by community forums going to courts for interdicts had a knock-on effect on project planning and implementation. It became hard to control elements acting with malicious intent.

On integration, he said all the projects under the Human Settlements Development Grant (HSDG) sought to integrate various communities. The reason why projects could not be implemented closer to the city was because most available state land that had been earmarked for those projects had been invaded by individuals who sought to jump the queue and who seemed to have benefited from the state in the past, but were still demanding an opportunity. Those people were a hindrance as the Department tried to integrate the communities.

Regarding title deeds, the Department had dealt with very easy cases for many years but now they were dealing with difficult ones. During the year under review, the Minister said he had been vocal about the illegal sale of Breaking New Ground (BNG) housing units because it was mostly found that the beneficiary and the person who had to sign the title deed were different. That made it difficult to transfer the title deed.

About the R8 million rollover, he said the money was budgeted for Driftsands, but the area was a nature reserve. The cabinet then took a decision, given the scale of the invasion, to de-proclaim it as a nature reserve in its entirety. The Department could not do anything about the invaded portion. The Department is aware of the risks in wet winter conditions. People were living close to the water catchment area which had cracked walls. It was a very complex process. When the dam was built, it was never considered that there would be invasions. A portion of the site was identified for those at high risk. The R8 million was for clearing the identified site for the people who were being relocated with their structures. The identified site had already been invaded illegally, which would impact the plan to move the people at high risk to this portion of land.

Ms August said that, in integrating communities, the Department tried to use the Joint District and Metro Approach (JDMA). The Department worked with all different levels of government and parastatals to ensure that when planning was done for a particular area, it was integrated. It also had a way of assessing projects. Once an application was received, the planning team would do an assessment based on sustainability criteria. It would take into account issues like social justice and economic infrastructure.

Regarding title deeds, the Department believed it was not necessarily reporting all the transfers that were going through. Different municipalities had different capacities. Data was not analysed correctly. During the year under review, the focus had been on data cleansing, ensuring better capture of data and reconciling it with that of the municipalities and the Housing Development Agency on the Department’s HSS system. Another challenge was that the Department lost people handling title deeds. The Department was trying to improve efficiency and had agreed to outsource two project managers.

The capacity of municipalities was a challenge. Some did not have the technical skills to manage title deeds. Resource teams had been set up to support the municipalities. Systems for reporting on the HSS had been improved and everyone was following one procedure in terms of capturing data. Discussions had been started with the seven municipalities with the biggest backlogs about their needs.

Regarding the relocation in Driftsands, the nearby Medical Research Council facility released fumes. The need for a buffer zone removed the development opportunity at the identified site. New sites had been identified or looked at and an updated list would be sent to the Committee.

Mr Roy Stewart, Director, Strategic Support: Land and Asset Management, said the matter of title deeds was a huge problem. The Department was the coordinator of title deeds and relied on municipalities. It provided support for contested title deeds. The matter had been raised with the legal unit because the Department believed it was important to draft a policy framework to assist the municipalities. The legal unit had advised the Department that municipalities had to provide their own policy frameworks through their councils because the properties did not belong to the Department. The Forlam Report (sp) on title deeds strategic plans has been made available to the Committee. It had also been distributed to municipalities and one, Hessequa, had taken the lead in developing its own policy framework to manage title deeds. 

Many municipalities had projects where title deeds could not be released because the property belonged to national government entities. The Department played an intermediary role, but it was a slow, frustrating process. So far, one property has been transferred. There was an ongoing battle with national entities to release those properties.

The Department had visited the seven municipalities with title deeds backlogs. Unfortunately, title deeds were not a priority and were relegated to the property management services units of municipalities. The Department used the HSS to track the delivery of title deeds and it was tracking the municipalities on the commitments they had made. The next phase was to address this matter through the municipal managers.

Some vacant posts in the Department had been filled.

Mr Rob Smith, Director: Grant and Municipal Performance Management, responded to projects not performed during the year under review. There were two projects at Macassar within the City of Cape Town, where 450 houses were targeted, but only 183 were signed off by the end of the year. The work was still progressing. At the Sir Lowry’s Pass project, there was a target of 177 houses. The sites were serviced but work on top structures started after the end of the financial year.

The Department was also assisting the City of Cape Town with three projects. In the Valhalla project only 40 units were built against the target of 190. There was a target of 160 in the Gugulethu Mawu-Mawu project but only 26 of those were signed off. In the airport precinct, the target was 250 houses but nothing was achieved. There had been intimidation at the Valhalla and Mawu-Mawu sites, proving to be difficult sites to work on. In the Vlakkeland project, a contractor ended up defaulting. A new contractor had been appointed to finish the project and fix the houses that were left unfinished. The target of 440 was not achieved.

In the Gansbaai project in the Overstrand area, the target of 250 was not met by the end of the year. In the Bitou area, the target was 169 and the project was signed off at the end of March 2022. In the Malmesbury area, the target was 200 but 100 houses were handed over. There has been no contractor on site in the Garden Route area for some time. In Villiersdorp, there were procurement issues on two projects but there had been progress. All 178 sites had been occupied at Kayamandi in Stellenbosch.

The Department struggled with the Mossel Bay project because it covered 23 informal settlements. The target in the first phase was 680 for the year, but there were problems with procurement and on the site. There was no achievement of targets in these projects. There were challenges of intimidation and defaulting contractors, but some contractors were on site. 

Mr Mfundo Taliwe, Director: Regional Support: Garden Route and Central Karoo, said the initial problem they had with the Mossel Bay project was that it was implemented by the municipality. The municipality went out on tender but there were procurement challenges when the contractor could not meet some of the minimum requirements for subcontracting. This municipality had to repeat the tender process to get a new contractor to finish the project. The project was delayed by eight months. The municipality appointed a contractor for the 680 sites, but the community decided to stop the contractor and caused damage. This meant that targets would not be achieved in the current year.

Mr Francois de Wet, Chief Financial Officer, reported that there had been under-expenditure on programmes one, two and four. The administration programme experienced a delay in the supply of computer equipment by the State Information Technology Agency (SITA). A rollover of R1.76 million was requested. There was a delay by the service provider in the development of a mobile app to track the housing projects, but everything was on track now. There were also delays in the installation of equipment in the hearing rooms. All that had been resolved and paid for.

In programme two, there had been under-expenditure of R514 000 which was not used for transport and subsistence allowances. Most meetings were conducted virtually even though the Department had to travel to municipalities to provide hands-on support.

In programme four, there had been under-expenditure of R30.712 million, because of over-expenditure in the previous financial year of the Informal Settlements Upgrading Grant. That was the first liability against the Department and it would approach the provincial Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) for approval to allocate the funds. The Department had applied for the rollovers and R5.197 million had been approved by the national Department of Human Settlements.

Mr Marran remarked that the successes the Minister talked about were far removed from the projects, and he wished people from the Breede Valley were in the meeting to hear what the Minister said about the Conradie and Cape Agulhas projects that were completed in record time. Not a single person had received a house in the Trans Hex Valley because the project was postponed time and again. The NHBS had refused to sign off on those 44 housing units.

The Department had received an unqualified audit opinion, with findings. Some of the findings were worrisome.

He asked about preparations for establishing the new Department of Infrastructure and the costs involved.

A lady in Witzenberg by the name of Santa Bles had not received her house when everything had been approved.

What was the breakdown of the housing units delivered in terms of subsidies between 2019 and 2022? What plans were in place to ensure the vacant HOD position was filled and that more women would be employed in top structures of the Department? Why were there no plans for public schools in the Conradie project, but there were plans for two private schools?

Minister Simmers said Mr Marran’s criticism of the Department was justified. He said two alternate building technology (ABT) contractors had not succeeded. The Department now had a third contractor. The municipalities were trying to intervene, and some of these things were outside the Department's purview. At some stage, there was a shortage of water and electricity. One asked oneself how many of these things one project could deal with.

Cabinet had been briefed on the organisational structure of the new Department of Infrastructure. The preliminary structure had been taken to the DBSA and there had been consultations with both departments. They were busy with processes and preliminary budget allocations. The budget would be enough for the merged departments, and it would address historic matters within the human settlements department. The new department had to ensure that what had been envisioned by the cabinet came to fruition.

Concerning Mrs Bles, the lady had a disabled son and the unit was not disabled-friendly. The unit had to be allocated an extra budget to make it disabled-friendly. In the past, the Department had given disabled people units they could not use and that had come back to bite it.

The Department was conducting interviews to fill the HOD position. The contract period would be limited because they would be winding up the Department of Human Settlements. In the past, human settlements used to be part of the Department of Local Government, and this was the second time the Department was going through a form of change.

Regarding the Conradie project, two schools were planned. Curro in Delft was a private school but focused on the learners in the surrounding area. On paper, the school was private regarding where the funding would come from. All the housing units were tenanted. The occupants were in a certain income bracket and their children would benefit from the school. This was a situation where the private and public sectors worked together. The Department was building for the future so that it would be easy to access clinics and schools.

Mr Peter Klaassen, a Department official for the Winelands Region, stated that 190 units had been completed in the Trans Hex Valley and the NSB had signed off 146 units. The NSB had visited the site, and a report was expected on structural matters at the first 40 units before the end of the year. The Breede Valley Municipality had approved funding for the water meters because that was delaying the handover of the units. The Department requested the municipality indicate when the water meters would be in place.

The Chairperson wanted to know why figures on the delivery of housing units were highlighted, when they were not in other sections of the report. She remarked that the relocation of 8 000 illegal occupants near the nature reserve could not be compared to that at Driftsands because the area was massive. She asked where the ministerial priority housing projects were located and how many units would be built.

The Minister said Duiseldorp was one of the ministerial priority projects, and 180 people benefited. A second project was in George. These were areas where people had been waiting a long time for houses. A third project in Kannaland was in the planning stage. The challenge there was instability and lack of technical skills. There was another project in Hessequa where people had been waiting for more than 25 years for houses. All the bulk infrastructure had been completed during the current financial year. Construction had commenced and it was hoped some units would be handed over before Christmas. Another project in Saldanha was blocked due to matters outside the Department’s control. The Department continued to engage councils to come to the party, even though some were unstable.

Mr Marran remarked that not all people could afford those schools in Conradie, but would benefit from other public schools situated around the area. He wanted to know when the house of Ms Bles would be completed, and asked if the answer could be communicated to her and the municipality. He stated that the people on site in the Trans Hex project were those who were installing the water pipes and the rest had left. He wanted to know what the Department planned to do to prevent people from invading the houses when they realised they were empty. There were settlements on the other side of the R62 and it would be difficult to take them out once they had moved in.

The Minister apologised for using the beneficiary’s name, even though it was in the public domain. When the Department found that Ms Bles was without a house, it wrote to the municipality to get all the details. The municipality had to play its role. A follow-up would be done to see if the municipality had communicated with the beneficiary. This matter had also been raised in the national parliament.

The biggest risk in Trans Hex was a possible invasion of the houses, given that 144 units had been completed and water pipes were the only things that needed to be finalised.

Ms August said the report about the beneficiary in Witzenberg would be relayed to the committee. Regarding Conradie, there had been discussions with the department of education which had indicated it could not build a new school in the area but had committed to upgrading the three existing ones to benefit communities in the area. Concerning TransHex, there were security contracts. A risk assessment had been done to guide the kind of support the Department needed to deploy to protect that site.

Mr Klaassen said they had provided security services in Trans Hex. There were delays in the project because it was believed the contractor was not on site. The security has been there since 31 March 2022. If the project manager requires an extension, that should be submitted to the Department for consideration.

The Chairperson asked the Committee to be considerate and not mention the name of the beneficiary because the committee had to have approval to use the name in the meeting. She wanted to know if it was possible for the Department to access information directly from the title deeds office to fast-track the programme.

Ms August said the Department had instituted a quarterly Title Deeds Restoration Programme (TRP) meeting. All the stakeholders actively involved in title deeds participated in this forum. The Department’s team tried to meet with these stakeholders every month to provide support.

Mr Stewart said it had been reported to the Committee some time ago that the Cape Town deeds office was the cause of the backlogs. This was also worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic when the office was closed. The backlogs happened in the municipalities and on site. Generally, the deeds office did not contribute to the backlogs. The municipalities were having difficulties getting information to the conveyancers they appointed. In the past, those conveyancers were appointed by the Department on behalf of municipalities and those conveyancers struggled to get documents. There was a need for intervention so that the beneficiaries could submit the correct documents. Once the documents were compiled, it was a very convenient process for the conveyancers to get them through the deeds office. The bulk of the backlogs concerned contested title deeds.

Mr S August (GOOD) said he would like the Department to roll out the Cape Agulhas project as soon as possible. Most FLISP housing delivery was happening within the City of Cape Town. Was the Department considering rolling out FLISP projects to other municipalities, receiving people from other municipalities?

He asked what the Department was doing to increase housing applications via the app that was being developed. Regarding title deeds, he asked if there should be measures in place before people got their keys and signed for the title deeds. He also suggested a demolition certificate from municipalities when people moved from an informal settlement to a decent house because that informal settlement remained there. People sold their shacks to the next buyers.

It was sad to see taxpayers’ money benefiting foreigners occupying the houses meant for the beneficiaries. What discussions were there in the MinMEC forum about this?

Regarding the special funding for disability, he asked if there was a way to have a standard set of designs to upgrade the homes of disabled people. Some got their houses at the ages of 60 and 70 and, a year later, were affected by a stroke or other incapacitating condition.

Some developments resulted in chaos, because there was still no infrastructure in areas where 3 000 units had been built. An example was Pelican Park which still had no primary and high schools, and this hit the pockets of the beneficiaries who had to send their children far away to learn. The land audits should be examined carefully. He asked what the funding was for rapidly upgrading informal settlements per municipality.

The Minister said the Member was touching on pertinent matters. The pilot project at Cape Agulhas was to see how to streamline government architecture, because local government had a role to play. It was a
programme that was unique to the Western Cape. So, there would be teething problems. The first beneficiaries of the project were concerned about the size of units. But a logical question would be the cost of that house on the open market. That would change the debate about where the Department was heading.

The Department sought to increase opportunities for those falling between income bands. The DHS and the Department of Local Government analysed four municipalities to assess what was going wrong. The report talked about creating an opportunity to influence the cost per unit for that missing group. Many beneficiaries were civil servants who fell within that certain income bracket. Everything that had been done had been backed by the data. No one had ever considered that income bracket, because the local government department had been focusing on the RDP and BNG housing projects. The need for the product was there, because 11 000 enquiries had been received from the City of Cape Town. More than one site would be developed for the metro.

The Department did not report on FLISP in non-metropolitan areas in the year under review, but there had been two successful projects to deliver FLISP units in the non-metro areas. The media did not cover these projects for reasons known to them. The George area was one good example.

The Minister said he could not make a statement on the low uptake of the housing app because he was not a media person. They had tried to engage the councillors to see to it that the app was downloadable and easy to follow. The vision of the Department is for the app to be downloaded for free without data, because it is linked to other things like the RHT app.

It was disheartening to learn that houses that had been handed over belonged to non-South African citizens. He cited Forest Village where this had happened. He had asked his team for a report on the matter. The state or Minister had a limited role to play in terms of renting out the units, but by law the beneficiaries could not sell them. The only area for their intervention was the illegal sale of the housing units. The State Attorney had given the Department guidelines on how to deal with the matter. The complexity was not easy to resolve when the person who was given the house by the Department contributed to the problem.

About social infrastructure, he said he was happy there would be one Department focusing on a holistic approach, but warned that the private sector needed to work with the state to meet the social infrastructure goals. 

Ms August stated there was a FLISP pipeline outside of the metro. The list was under construction. Municipalities put FLISP into their long-term planning but when things got to that point, they changed, so the Department had put together a pipeline.

The Department had tried to put in place a standard operating procedure for title deeds to ensure they were released sooner. The more the delay, the harder it got. The Department had been trying to hand them over on the day the beneficiaries got the keys. The challenge had been signing the sale agreement first. The Department was trying to link those two processes and hand over the title deed within six weeks. When a person moved into a house, the sale or purchase agreement should have been signed, and that meant the paperwork was done.

Mr Stewart said a consumer education programme was conducted as part of every project. A beneficiary had the option to complete a will. It was a personal matter and not imposed on them. However, it would be beneficial for them to be encouraged to complete a will at that stage.

Mr Gavin Wiseman, Director: Affordable Housing, said there were a number of future sites outside the Cape metro area. There were engagements with a number of municipalities. The Department was gaining momentum in its ability to deliver FLISP units on IDP projects to keep costs down. The Department and municipalities were working hand in hand. There was also close collaboration with banks so that they understood the specifications and value of the projects to ensure the investment of the state was upheld and protected.

Ms Pamela Masiko-Kambala, Director: Policy and Research, said it was time the Department started to informally educate the people who were buying these houses. They were at the mercy of the sellers, because should they die or change their mind, it would be difficult for them to get ownership of the houses bought before the eight-year period in the pre-emptive clause had lapsed. A media campaign should be developed to caution people. Some people came to the Department for assistance after being chased out by the people they bought the houses from. Unfortunately, the Department could not intervene because it was a private matter between the seller and the buyer.

Regarding the elderly, there was a principle that they should be put on the lower floors when developing medium-density types of housing. Municipalities had to understand that the elderly should not be given duplexes because they would not be able to move up the stairs. Different designs were used when building these units, but they should accommodate the elderly so that there was integration in communities.

Mr Brian Denton, Chief Director: Project Administration, said 2 001 people registered for the mobile app. The main concern was that people on the waiting list did not update their details. Finding them telephonically or at the physical address was difficult when the opportunity arose. The mobile app was convenient, but municipal officials chose to go to the field to register people themselves.

Regarding disability, the housing policy had provisions for when a family that applied had a disabled person or one who became disabled thereafter. They could provide a medical certificate and the house would be updated. If the person had been wheelchair-bound from the onset, the house would be 45 square metres. It would not be extended, but would be enhanced to accommodate the person. They could apply after the subsidy had been approved.

Ms Murray wanted to know if the Brisbane Platform and the Citizens Relations Platform were public platforms and if they prevented queue-jumping. She asked what the usage of these platforms was and if the beneficiaries were experiencing challenges in using these platforms.

Mr Benjamin Nkosi, Director: Strategic Management and Support, stated Brisbane was not citizen interfacing. It helped the Department to better manage the data within the institution. The Citizen Relations Platform was citizen interfacing. That was where systems that talked to citizens were hosted. 

Ms Raynita Robertson, Deputy Director, said seven informal settlements were earmarked for phase three of the Informal Settlements Upgrading Plan, but there was non-performance when the communities were not willing to move. Phase three allowed only for site service and not top structures.

Mr Smith said R17.95 million was set aside for the Informal Settlement Upgrade Plan. Serviced sites were delivered at Boys Town (235), Airport Precinct (308), Zwelihle in Hermanus (128), and at Masakhane in Gansbaai (123). Other sites were delivered at Botrivier and Knysna.

Regarding demolition certificates, he explained that there were always relocation plans. When the people had left an area, the structures were broken down and the area cleared. Many municipalities had handled this well, but there had been instances where areas were re-occupied. Not all sites were for residential purposes, and removing business premises became difficult.

Mr Xego asked for clarity on the under-expenditure of the installation of hearing equipment in the RHT building.

He asked whether the deferred ownership pilot projects at Bredasdorp and Cape Agulhas would not make life hard for people six months or year after getting houses. Economic conditions of people changed and this might bring litigation.

Seeing that the framework policy for selecting housing beneficiaries had been reviewed, how many elderly people were on that database during the year under review? How many military veterans were on the housing list? There was a battle between them and the Department as they had forcefully tried to be included in the list. 

He asked why there was zero achievement in the consumer rehabilitation initiative in programme two. What were the strategies for overcoming under-performance? What initiatives had the Department taken to ensure that people understood its programmes? Why had the Department underperformed by 2 000 on the targets for building housing units? It managed to build only 8 000. Did the Department do due diligence before appointing contractors? It appeared that they always defaulted?

On the unmet consumer readiness targets, Ms August said that creditworthiness and affordability could change monthly due to job losses, salary cuts, etc. And then there was COVID-19. The consumer readiness person was appointed before COVID-19 started and a lot of the work was done before the pandemic hit. The financial status of people changed for two years. The service provider could not support individuals who needed help because of COVID-19 regulations. A year later, it was discovered that the affordability challenges people faced had changed completely and the process had to be started all over again. That was why the Department had to do away with the service provider.

Regarding deferred ownership, Mr Wiseman said the Department had a close collaboration with the banks and commercial entities providing loan finance. They were excited about the model because they saw value in the product and the possibility of growth in this market. The properties were priced competitively, and 22 contracts had already been signed. There were 500 under construction. Innovation was one of the values instilled in the Department. When new things were tried, some things would fail. “And if we do not fail, we do not learn.”

The deferred ownership scheme was a pilot project and the Department had mitigated the risks raised by Members. The process worked because 50 percent of the accrued rental over the lease agreement period went towards a deposit. That was the key mitigant. It provided access to good financial resources at the end of the two-year period. In addition, a financial coach was provided to help people rehabilitate their creditworthiness with regular rental payment records. If the beneficiary's financial situation changed, there was an immediate engagement with the financial coach to look at restructuring the debt. At the start of the lease agreement, the beneficiary signed an option-to-purchase agreement. At the end of the 24-month period they could exercise that option if they were able to source a FLISP subsidy to obtain bond finance. If they could not, they would have to vacate the house. The programme was structured in a way that the risk was very small. 

Mr Denton said there was no waiting list for military veterans. They were exempted from the housing waiting list. They had to be registered with the Department of Military Veterans for a housing opportunity.

Regarding under-performing contractors, Mr de Wet said that in addition to the national list of defaulting contractors, the Department had its own list of those it would not consider in future for work.

Mr Adriaanse said the Department had a number of entry points for communicating its messages. There was a face-to-face or help desk component. During the year under review, 26 000 citizens visited the Department's offices for information on human settlements. Messages were posted on the website. The Department was making tremendous strides in the social media space. Many citizens had smartphones. The social media messages have attracted a lot of attention. The Department also used radio spots on seven radio stations across the province. The Department worked closely with municipalities in rolling out information and customer care roadshows to ensure there was alignment with the messages of municipalities.

The Department had many good stories to tell, but editors and journalists needed to be engaged on why they did not cover those stories. The Department would continue to promote its stories on its platforms. The message was getting through to the communities.

Regarding the decline in the number of units delivered yearly, Mr Smith said the budget was pretty firm at about R2 billion per year from two grants. Every year, the subsidy went up. What the Department could buy with the grants was less and less.

Mr America wanted to know why the framework policy for selecting housing beneficiaries was amended. Was it in line with the policy framework of the municipalities? He asked how the 39 enhanced service sites had been delivered. What was the outcome of the research paper on housing projects and density? Had its recommendations been implemented? He wanted to know the district in which the land was acquired between 2004 and 2009 and the number of hectares. He asked about the budgetary implications of over-delivery in targeting beneficiaries who qualified for houses. He asked about the area in which the units were rolled out for sustainable resource use.

Regarding the beneficiary selection policy framework, Ms Masiko-Kambala, said the Department started working in 2010 on a framework of norms and standards to guide municipalities on the art of selecting beneficiaries. The Department ensured all municipalities drafted their own policy frameworks to be passed by their own councils, and municipalities were encouraged to clean up their housing demand databases. Between 2012 and the year under review, there were a number of updates and enhancements to the policy. One of these was prioritising people aged 40 and older. Circulars were issued to all municipalities.

In 2020, a national directive indicated the need to prioritise only three groups: military veterans; households affected by disability; and households with elderly people aged 60 and older. The Department thought it was a good idea to update the policy to speak to those three areas, and guide the municipalities on these priority areas. To avoid abuse of the system by some elderly people, the Department re-emphasised that one should be on the waiting list for three years before being selected.

When the policy was reviewed, the Department held 11 meetings with municipalities to share information on challenges. The main thing was the prioritisation of the disabled. The Department was piggybacking on the SASSA system and people had to provide documentation about the disability grants they were getting. When COVID-19 arrived, the Department had to cater for different kinds of disabilities because other people had comorbidities. The Department was going to develop a template to be adopted by municipalities for updating.

Regarding Enhanced Services Sites, there was a 2018 policy on serviced sites which basically dealt with two scenarios: the normal serviced site and an enhanced service site. Because of the national directive that some housing units would not be given to beneficiaries under 60 years old, the Department had to think about what it would do. It came up with two proposals: a site with a slab that could be closed over within a certain time; and a BNG site. The Department was still working with the national department to approve and implement the plans. Part of the process was to figure out which grant would support such a mechanism.

Regarding the research paper on housing projects, she said it explored whether there could be further funding mechanisms that social housing institutions could tap into to increase densities. At the moment, social housing institutions built four-storey buildings, and the Department looked at what it would take to build 12-storey buildings. The research unpacked a number of issues like size, costs, multi-purpose communal spaces, geotechnical variants, and multi-purpose commercial buildings. But, it was felt it was better for municipalities to adopt their own inclusionary policies.

Mr Smith stated the difference between enhanced services sites and fully serviced sites for the ISUP was that fully serviced sites had full connections and could be handed over to the beneficiary. These sites were in the following areas: Breede Valley, Witzenberg, City of Cape Town, Garden Route, Melkhoutfontein, Knysna, Overstrand, Vredenberg, Botrivier, Swellendam and Hermanus. The Department did not pay much for additional technology like solar geysers because a lot of that was donated.

Mr Marran said the Committee had heard complaints about Communicare living conditions and evictions. Were there any interventions by the Department? The Committee had been told that people would be evicted from the housing clusters in Overberg and Cape Agulhas if they did not qualify for home loans after 24 months. The target for qualifying beneficiaries for non-credit link subsidies was 138. What did the database of that housing category look like? He asked why internal processes within the Department could not pick up an overpayment identified during an audit process. He asked about a procurement process involving conditional grants that resulted in under-expenditure.

Ms August indicated that only 10 percent of the social housing stock belonged to Communicare. The Social Housing Regulating Authority regulated the housing stock. Communicare was not allowed to evict willy-nilly. There were conditions it had to meet to attain accreditation status. If it lost accreditation, it would not be able to access the capital subsidy. The Social Housing Act prevented the government from becoming involved in managing rental stock. If the government was the landlord, no one paid the rentals. But if the private sector was the landlord, the rental was paid because there was a risk of eviction. The Social Housing Regulatory Authority manages the process.

Mr Denton said anybody who earned less than R3 500 qualified to apply for the independent non-credit link subsidy. People did not participate in the project, but found houses in the secondary market to acquire for themselves. A total of 565 000 people were on the waiting list. The Department had set some conditions on the applications it had received in non-metro areas. People had to be on the waiting list for five years, and ten years in the metro area. 

Mr de Wet said the R135 000 over-spent was on the project's first phase and the money had already been recovered.

Mr Smith said the Department under-performed on its set target of 138 individual subsidies. It also under-performed on FLISP. The decision to accelerate these programmes was because FLISP was a priority programme and the Department managed to access funds from the NHFC. This helped to deal with budget overruns on the projects.

The Chairperson asked why targets were set low on the Extended Discount Benefit Scheme (EDBS), which resulted in over-achievement. She asked what the Department’s strategy was on land use. There should be a land use plan when people move from one piece of land to the next. At what point should regional managers raise a red flag with municipalities on capacity and contractor challenges?
That appeared to be a common problem in municipalities.

The Minister said the human settlements portfolio was not an easy one and solutions were not easy. There were complexities about internal capabilities and external complexities. COVID-19 was the perfect storm which showed weaknesses of both the Department and external stakeholders that needed to be addressed through innovative proposals. Not all of the questions and comments from Members could be answered because of these complexities.

Mr Denton said there was still confusion about the EDBS. All municipalities had housing stock that fell under the EDBS. The Department had no control over the number of applications processed by the municipalities. The City of Cape Town was the biggest landlord. Most municipalities had sold stock in terms of the EDBS. The Department too had come to the end of its own stock.

Mr Smith said the Department had re-instituted virtual meetings with district forums to help the Department anticipate challenges in municipalities.

The Minister reminded the Committee that there were plus minus 125 attempted land invasions. The cabinet had formed a working committee to find a way of mitigating these. An SOP was put in place and it was very successful, because it was working with the SAPS which had limited resources. It was a proactive measure that cost money and it needed to have a budget. Once the community found out about a piece of land, the syndicates in the community did not follow the rule of law.

Mr America asked for clarity on the amount of money transferred to the City of Cape Town for title deeds and why the transfers were not spent at all.

Mr de Wet stated that R12.4 million was gazetted to the City of Cape Town in the previous year's adjustment budget. The City of Cape Town awarded a tender to a panel of conveyancers to investigate title deeds. The projects were in Makhaza, Brown’s Farm, Wallacedene, New Rest, Gugulethu, Lwandle, and some other areas. Everything was committed.

Mr Marran remarked the Department had not clearly answered his questions about the evictions and bad living conditions at Communicare units. He had written to the Minister and Department to intervene. He asked whether building BNG and FLISP structures near an upmarket or middle income development would not have an impact on house values.

The Minister said the 2018 study said the opposite about FLISP structures. In Bothasig, there was a social housing project. Before it was built, there were fights within the recipient community. Since that development was constructed, the value of the houses in Bothasig has increased. The bulk infrastructure contributed to the value of the houses.

Ms August said tenants of privately owned property could apply to the RHT to intervene in disputes. Those in social housing could also use the RHT. The Social Housing Regulatory Authority also played an oversight role. 

Mr August stated he was unhappy with the response to wills and title deeds and asked that the issue be elevated to MinMEC for a conversation. He asked whether the Department had a uniform typology in the building of housing units in the province, because it appeared there were different forms of housing developments.  

The Minister said municipalities gave their own inputs about the look and feel of housing developments. For instance, in the Cape Agulhas project, the municipality and council had a say on the colours of the new housing units. An area would look bland if you had the same design.

The matter of title deeds and wills was discussed at MinMEC. Certain municipalities in the Western Cape had gone a step further to allow people to make wills for free, because many of the beneficiaries, especially the elderly, could not properly read and write. They were assisted with a generic form of a will. 

The Chairperson remarked that when you looked at the beneficiary list of the municipalities, you would see families who had been evicted from farms, for example, people of 80 and 90. The municipality said you had to be on the waiting list for three to five years. That meant those elders had to wait. She wondered if the Department was aware of such cases and how it attended to them, because municipalities said those elders were not in their database. To attend to such matters, the municipalities would have to deviate from their policies, creating divisions in the communities.

The Minister said that in 2019, before becoming a provincial minister, he asked the question of farmworkers to the HOD because farmworkers were unaware they needed to register on the housing database. The HOD informed him at that stage that one would need a form of confirmation for the period the farmworker had lived on the farm. Then they would need to apply to the municipality indicating that the period spent on the farm was equivalent to the waiting list period. There was a mechanism to get around this but it had to emanate from the local government and be directed to the DHS. He had not received such a request for the past three years as a minister. The door was not closed. Agri-Western Cape had approached the DHS for partnership in agri-villages and housing assistance for farmworkers. This would be initiated in the next financial year, and a district had been identified. There was a need for legal recourse to help poor people.

Mr Denton said the municipalities were the delegated authorities for the waiting list database. When the Department revised the guidelines, it made provision for people squatting in a certain area or farm.

The Chairperson remarked that in the past, there was a system where if beneficiaries benefited from a serviced site, they would not qualify for housing. Then there was the problem of land invasions where people had to be shifted to where they were going to be given the service. She then wanted to know how the Department was going to ensure there was no double-dipping. That system did not allow one to benefit from a stand and in future, benefit from a top structure.

Ms August said when it came to services and upgrading an informal settlement, the entire settlement was upgraded. 

Mr Denton said the Chairperson was referring to the old consolidation of subsidies where people as part of their service were given the site. If that land was invaded, there was a need to ask what had happened to the rightful owner. The Department had had such instances and had to waive the subsidy. There had to be a good reason to override. If the state had failed to protect the individual on that site, then that person could be reconsidered and appear in the system for the second time.

Mr Marran wanted to know where Stofland fitted in with the thousand serviced sites in the Breede Valley. In the past six or seven years, no one had ever spoken about Stofland.

Mr Smith said Stofland was an old project in De Doorns.

Ms Murray wanted to understand what contributed to the high vacancy rate of 6.3 percent at senior management and how that was going to be addressed.

Ms August stated one of the vacant posts was that of HOD. Recruitment was still happening. Two other vacant positions were in the implementation team and they required special technical skills. The posts had been advertised but the Department could not fill them. Everything was in the process of being finalised.

Mr August asked if the Department had reached its percentage of physically challenged workers.

Mr de Wet stated there was an achievement of 4.3 percent against a prescribed target of 2 percent.

Mr Marran wanted to know if there had ever been a contest about Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) salaries, because bargaining councils had prescribed salaries. He asked about a case of misconduct and the kind of drug that was consumed. He asked for clarity on the grievances that had been lodged.

Mr de Wet said the EPWP rates were prescribed by the transport and public works departments, and the DHS could not deviate from that. The misconduct was alcohol-related. The person was sent for rehabilitation and the sanction was two months with no pay. The Department had paid for his rehabilitation. The grievances involved many issues such as upgrading to higher posts, victimisation, employee relations, performance management, and conduct of a supervisor. Nine had been resolved, while 11 had not been finalised.

Ms Murray wanted to understand the contributing factors for the high number of resignations by those between the ages of 25 to 30.

Mr de Wet stated the Department had a number of contract workers in the form of candidates or interns. They were on a contract for one year and they had to re-apply at the end of their contracts.

The Minister thanked the committee for the thought-provoking questions. He said the Department’s achievements during the year showed the commitment of the officials to executing the mandate of the Department under difficult circumstances. The position of HOD would be filled soon. The focus was on the new Department of Infrastructure and on maximising the opportunity that would flow from the new department.

Mr America, on behalf of the Committee, thanked the Department for its dedication, the preparation put into the annual report and the manner in which the officials responded to the questions.

Resolutions

The Committee resolved to request a tabulation of the RHT members’ salaries; that the Department forward to the Committee copies of the revised and enhanced policies and the research paper; and that the Department provide more information about its plans for 80-year-olds on the housing waiting list.

The meeting was adjourned.