State to fund RDP housing

The national government will give some municipalities money for RDP houses, the human settlements department said on Friday.

This would cut the red-tape they currently had to go through to get housing funds from the provincial government, said department spokesman Xolani Xundu.

Accreditation and the assignment of the housing delivery function to capable municipalities were among the issues discussed at a meeting co-chaired by Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale and Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Richard Baloyi on Friday.

The meeting was attended by all MECs responsible for human settlements and local government, and all members of mayoral committees responsible for housing.

Xundu said the decision would affect about 16 municipalities, and that there would be ongoing support for other municipalities to also get national government accreditation.

Municipalities would be deemed to be capable based on their budget, financial status, track record, ability to spend and housing planning, he said.

“The meeting agreed on a time-frame that will see certain municipalities receiving accreditation before the 2014 deadline as stipulated in the Service Delivery Agreement the two Ministers (Tokyo Sexwale and Richard Baloyi) signed with President Jacob Zuma,” said Xundu.

The process would result in billions of rand flowing to municipalities, and would speed up the delivery of services, he said. - Sapa