Question NW70 to the Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation
18 May 2020 - NW70
Powell, Ms EL to ask the Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation
(1)Whether she can provide Ms E L Powell with information on the process followed to award Breaking New Ground (BNG) houses to local residents in the Fynbos Phase 1 and Fynbos Phase 2 housing development in Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality in the Eastern Cape; if so, by what date; (2) whether the BNG houses were awarded to beneficiaries as per the chronological order of the existing Local Housing Waiting List; if not, which housing list was used; if so, (3) whether she can provide Ms E L Powell with a copy of the official Local Housing Waiting List used for the Fynbos Phase 1 and Fynbos Phase 2 housing development; if so, by what date; (4) whether she can provide Ms E L Powell with a copy of the list of names of recipients to whom homes were awarded in the specified housing development; if so, by what date?
Reply:
(1) According to information we received from the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCM), the Fynbos Phase 1 and Fynbos Phase 2 housing development project was preceded by a shack and population survey that was conducted by the BCM in 2012 to cater for informal settlement dwellers. Thereafter, the BCM collected the subsidy application forms from the community members and dispatched the same to the Eastern Cape Department of Human Settlements for validation, approval and capturing on the Housing Subsidy System (HSS). The outcome of the approval process was communicated to the BCM in their capacity as the designated project developer.
(2) The BCM indicated that the community of Fynbos reportedly convened a general meeting where they resolved to use the BCM’s master survey list (962) to extract the names of subsidy applications in order to compose their own list of preferred beneficiaries for Fynbos phase 1 and 2. Thus, the Housing Demand Database (Local Housing Waiting List) was not used.
(3) & (4) The information requested by the Honourable Member cannot be made available through a
reply to a parliamentary because the established practise applicable to parliamentary questions and guidelines contained in the document titled, “Guide to Parliamentary Questions in the National Assembly”, Members of Parliament, including the Executive, are prohibited from divulging names of persons, bodies when asking or responding to parliamentary questions. The guide referred to specifically states the following:
“Questions are to be framed as concisely as possible. All unnecessary adjectives, references and quotations are omitted. Names of persons, bodies and, for example, newspapers are only used in questions if the facts surrounding the case have been proven. As the mere mention of such names could be construed as publicity for or against them, it should be clear that this practice is highly undesirable. If a question will be unintelligible without mentioning such names, the Departments concerned are notified of the name (-s) and this phrase is used: ".......a certain person (name furnished)”.
It is therefore suggested that the Honourable Member approach the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCM) for the information she requires.