Question NW1822 to the Minister of Human Settlements

Reply:

Incorporating the traditional leaders, civic groups and community representatives in housing and human settlement initiatives is very  vital to the success and longevity of the housing projects. However, the prevalent challenges in terms of blocked housing projects has not revealed any challenges created by lack of involvement of traditional leaders but instead our analysis reflect challenges such as delays in provision of bulk infrastructure or the absence thereof. To resolve these, the sector has created a national unblocking programme that is currently running to resolve these challenges.

(a) what are the reasons that the fundamental role of traditional leaders and civic society has been overlooked and not recognized and

• The  fundamental role of traditional leaders and civic society has never been overlooked. The traditional leaders are very recognised in housing and human settlements programmes. Firstly, the traditional leadership play a critical role and get involved in the determination and identification of housing needs in their respective areas. This happens through the Integrated Development Planning (IDP) process, in which all local stakeholders including the traditional leadership participate. The housing needs eventually gets incorporated into the Municipality’s IDP document, which is the basis for the prioritization of all human settlements projects in all Provinces.
• The Housing Act and  programmes of the department currently articulate the role of traditional leaders. Just to mention as an example, section 2 (1) of the Housing Act of 1997 as amended states that national, provincial and local spheres of government must-
  • 1. …
    2. consult meaningfully with individuals and communities affected by housing development;
    3. ensure that housing development-
       1. provides as wide a choice of housing and tenure options as is reasonably possible;
       2. is economically, fiscally, socially and financially affordable and sustainable;
       3. is based on integrated development planning; and
       4. is administered in a transparent, accountable and equitable manner, and upholds the practice of good governance;
  1. encourage and support individuals and communities, including, but not limited to, co-operatives, associations and other bodies which are community based, their efforts to fulfil their own housing needs by assisting them in accessing land, services and technical assistance in a way that leads to the transfer of skills to, and empowerment of, the community;
• As a result of the above clauses programmes that are implemented in rural areas are implemented by provincial department of human settlements,  accredited municipalities and entities working together with traditional leaders.

(b) when will they be incorporated into various housing programmes in order to circumvent, mitigate the typical and current challenges for future projects?

• Traditional leaders are already included, however in order to enhance and improve working with traditional leaders in rural areas, the department has since crafted a White Paper on Human Settlements. The White Paper will serve as an overarching policy for the delivery of sustainable human settlements in both urban and rural areas.
• In the White Paper, the department stipulates that mechanisms to ensure enforceability of District Development Model (DDM) as a government strategy to enhance integration in the delivery of sustainable human settlements will be enhanced. This includes speeding up delivery processes as well as enable capacitation of the smaller municipalities and traditional settlement areas.

Over and above determining policy, I have instructed the department to pilot the implementation of geo-mapping initiative which is aimed at enhancing sustainable settlements planning and will also be implementing socio-economic amenities in rural areas of South Africa. Through this Geographic Information System (GIS) technology, we will be able to guide where infrastructure should be located.