Minister says MINMEC has yet to grant the necessary level three accreditation to any of the six municipalities
No funds will be transferred to the City of Cape Town or any other metro
Following the unnecessary and misleading media statement issued by the Mayor of Cape Town Ms Patricia De Lille on Sunday, August 10, 2014 accusing the Minister of Human Settlements, Lindiwe Sisulu of withholding R50 Million due to the City, the Minister wishes to put the following on record.
1. The City of Cape Town and the other five Metros, ie Nelson Mandela, Ekurhuleni, City of Johannesburg, City of Tshwane and Ethekwini have submitted Business Plans to access a Municipal Human Settlements Capacity Grant. This is a new grant, the roll-out of which is starting in the currently financial year, for the coming three financial years.
2. The Grant is sliced from the national Human Settlement Development Grant to develop capacity for Municipalities and Metros that have received level 3 accreditation. Level 3 accreditation is approved by Provincial MECs of Human Settlements after Municipalities and Metros meet the criteria set out in the Human Settlement Code and other policies. In total the grant set aside for the six metros for this financial year is R300 000 000.00.
In total the grant set aside for the six metros for this financial year is about R300 000 000 and to be allocated as follows to the each metro:
Nelson Mandela Metro - R37 707 000
Ekurhuleni Metro - R52 374 000
City of Joburg - R59 573 000
City of Tshwane - R47 506 000
E Thekwini - R52 469 000
City of Cape Town - R50 370 000
3. The nine provincial MECs, who form the Human Settlements MINMEC, chaired by the Minister of Human Settlements, have indicated that none of the six Metros have qualified for level three accreditation and it is thus premature for them to be demanding that funds be transferred to them.
4. The respective MECs have requested the six Metros to re-submit Business Plans for a review of how they will use the funds. The MECs are concerned that some of these funds will be used to appoint consultants instead of creating permanent structures in Metros to support the fast tracking of housing delivery.
5. MINMEC has indicated a serious concern that low quality houses are still being built whereas municipalities with level 2 accreditation should have the capacity to monitor and ensure that houses are of the best quality. MINMEC also expressed its unhappiness with continued under-spending and the use of consultants and reminded Metros of importance of developing projects that are in line with the national policy of integrated human settlements.
In conclusion, no funds will be transferred to the six metros until they have received level three accreditation. This is in line with the Human Settlements Code. They are encouraged to meet with the provincial MECs to submit all required documents. The Minister and MECs have met with SALGA to explain their position and have asked for an urgent joint MINMEC with the Minister of Local Government and the relevant MECs.
We call on the City of Cape Town to go to Wale Street, just around the corner from their office to meet the Western Cape MEC of Human Settlements to discuss this matter. He is located on the 4th floor, first office on the right and his name is MEC Madikizela.
Statement issued by Ndivhuwo Mabaya, Ministry of Human Settlements spokesperson, August 13 2014
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