CAPE TOWN — Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu yesterday announced the tightening of regulations to prevent the sale of government-subsidised houses to foreigners by municipalities.
This was in response to claims by protesters over the past few weeks that foreigners had benefited from the government’s housing policy while they had not.
Sisulu also gave notice in the National Assembly that the housing department would be seeking a once-off additional injection of R12bn from the fiscus this year to fast-track housing delivery in addition to special funding for severely stressed and overcrowded informal settlements.
An audit to flush out corrupt housing developers would also be conducted.
Sisulu said in her budget vote speech that measures would be introduced to prevent municipal councillors from allocating houses to foreigners in contravention of government policy, which stated that only indigent South African citizens who met the qualification criteria and who were on official waiting lists were eligible.
It would be compulsory to adhere to the national housing demand database so that no municipality had the right to allocate houses outside this verified and audited database. The data would be independently audited and submitted annually to Parliament.
“This will ensure that our processes are aligned to the necessary transparency and integrity required for universal acceptance. Our policy has been amended accordingly and provincial workshops are currently under way to ensure compliance,” Sisulu said.
The measure was being introduced despite the findings of an audit conducted last year by Auditor-General Terence Nombembe that no foreigners had been specifically awarded houses. The audit into the granting of housing subsidies to those who did not qualify was prompted by allegations that councillors were at the forefront of corrupt practices to divert these subsidies to foreigners.
Sisulu said occupancy audits would be conducted to ensure that the original beneficiaries of housing subsidies still lived in them. The fact that government-subsidised houses were occupied by foreigners meant that they had either bought them from beneficiaries before the period of limitation (eight years) had elapsed, or were renting them.
“We have been very concerned about the incidence of the sale of our houses. Our laws prohibit this, but the practice goes on. As an urgent measure, we have decided to enlist the services of the Special Investigations Unit to take action against the practice,” Sisulu said.
The unit would also conduct a forensic audit of housing contracts to determine where developers had failed to comply with the terms of the contractual obligations by developing insufficient and inadequate low-cost housing. Sisulu said this was a “scourge” that had resulted in significant losses to the department.
Democratic Alliance MP Butch Steyn criticised the department’s housing delivery performance, noting that there were blocked or incomplete projects worth about R2,4bn in 2006 terms.
- Business Day - News Worth Knowing
This was in response to claims by protesters over the past few weeks that foreigners had benefited from the government’s housing policy while they had not.
Sisulu also gave notice in the National Assembly that the housing department would be seeking a once-off additional injection of R12bn from the fiscus this year to fast-track housing delivery in addition to special funding for severely stressed and overcrowded informal settlements.
An audit to flush out corrupt housing developers would also be conducted.
Sisulu said in her budget vote speech that measures would be introduced to prevent municipal councillors from allocating houses to foreigners in contravention of government policy, which stated that only indigent South African citizens who met the qualification criteria and who were on official waiting lists were eligible.
It would be compulsory to adhere to the national housing demand database so that no municipality had the right to allocate houses outside this verified and audited database. The data would be independently audited and submitted annually to Parliament.
“This will ensure that our processes are aligned to the necessary transparency and integrity required for universal acceptance. Our policy has been amended accordingly and provincial workshops are currently under way to ensure compliance,” Sisulu said.
The measure was being introduced despite the findings of an audit conducted last year by Auditor-General Terence Nombembe that no foreigners had been specifically awarded houses. The audit into the granting of housing subsidies to those who did not qualify was prompted by allegations that councillors were at the forefront of corrupt practices to divert these subsidies to foreigners.
Sisulu said occupancy audits would be conducted to ensure that the original beneficiaries of housing subsidies still lived in them. The fact that government-subsidised houses were occupied by foreigners meant that they had either bought them from beneficiaries before the period of limitation (eight years) had elapsed, or were renting them.
“We have been very concerned about the incidence of the sale of our houses. Our laws prohibit this, but the practice goes on. As an urgent measure, we have decided to enlist the services of the Special Investigations Unit to take action against the practice,” Sisulu said.
The unit would also conduct a forensic audit of housing contracts to determine where developers had failed to comply with the terms of the contractual obligations by developing insufficient and inadequate low-cost housing. Sisulu said this was a “scourge” that had resulted in significant losses to the department.
Democratic Alliance MP Butch Steyn criticised the department’s housing delivery performance, noting that there were blocked or incomplete projects worth about R2,4bn in 2006 terms.
- Business Day - News Worth Knowing
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