Housing crisis at critical mass

YESTERDAY’S news that the Eastern Cape’s housing budget was set to be slashed by hundreds of millions of rands is, indeed, a severe shock.

Parliament’s portfolio committee was told that the province stood to lose R443 million of its R1.52 billion budget as a result of underspending as the financial year reached its halfway mark.

The reasons given for the underspending include problems with payment systems and municipal delays in providing serviced sites.

Poor performance among emerging contractors was cited as another problem.

So far, the province had only spent 26 percent of its budget on homes – far less than the two other worst performing provinces – Limpopo (55 percent) and the Free State (59 percent).

Because this province could not deliver, the money will now be channelled to the Northern Cape, Gauteng, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

For the 6.9 million people living here, Deputy Director-General Mzi Dlabantu’s announcement is devastating news.

Many are without homes.

This newspaper has frequently reported on the severe housing shortage in the province, including Buffalo City, which by the middle of last year was burdened with a whopping 75000 housing backlog.

National government’s intervention is a sign that the Eastern Cape housing problem has reached critical mass.

National Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu even paid a personal visit to the province, including Ugie, where on Monday she addressed an angry crowd – more victims of shoddy workmanship.

The crowd repeated to the minister what is now a common lament – one of leaking roofs, faulty plumbing and cement crumbling underfoot.

At the meeting, Sisulu told the rightfully peeved residents that she had asked the National Home Builders’ Regulation Council to do a forensic audit on the houses built at Ugie.

“We need to send out a very strong message that if we encounter shoddy work we will ensure that those responsible rectify the situation,” Sisulu said.

Although the minister’s encouraging words should be applauded, one hopes that it is not a case of too little too late.

In January, the provincial housing department came up with a plan dubbed “Operation Thunderstorm” in which it planned to take millions in RDP housing contracts from non-performing emergent contractors and offer them to established “big league” construction companies.

At the time, provincial housing general manager Ngwadi Mzamo said the plan was the only way to reach the provincial target of building 2000 houses by March 2008.

Nine months later, it is quite clear that new strategies need to be devised, quickly! - Daily Dispatch