Johannesburg Housing: Administrative failures deny quality housing to the poor
Today, the DA visited several housing delivery sites in Soweto to view the extent of the shoddy housing delivery in Johannesburg. At the first site, I visited three RDP houses which were built in 2007/2008 in Doornkop. While under construction, the DA warned that they were inappropriately sited as they were within 3 metres of standing water on wet ground. The City of Johannesburg nonetheless allocated the housing, despite these serious concerns. These poorly built houses were in no condition to be occupied, and should first have been repaired. The City of Johannesburg had the capacity to identify and correct these problems. They did not.
This is one of many examples of poor planning and engineering, which has resulted in RDP houses being built below the floodline. Moreover, houses have been built with poor infrastructure, no storm water drainage and poorly constructed sewerage. The City of Johannesburg continues to allocate these houses, despite them being uninhabitable. In doing so, they are acting contrary to their own responsibility to have the interests of the citizens of Johannesburg, and especially the poor, at heart. If the City of Johannesburg is to address this problem, a new approach to housing delivery needs to be adopted.
This problem also extends nationally. Figures released by the NHBRC that R64.4 billion will be needed to repair shoddy RDP houses is a glaring indictment of the ANC's housing delivery record. This amount, R6 billion more than was originally estimated by the Department of Human Settlements in February this year, will be used to repair, and in many instances, rebuild more than 2,638,500 poorly built RDP houses. Of this number, 609,520 houses have been noted as having serious structural defects.
This stands in sharp contrast to the housing delivery record in the DA-run City of Cape Town. Accountable financial systems and processes, as well as fair and open tendering have resulted in effective service delivery for all. Not only has the City of Cape Town been able to increase the number of houses being delivered by the previous ANC administration from 4585 in 2005/6 to 8950 in 2009/10, it has also provided more basic services to the poor, with 91% receiving universal access to basic services.
The difference between what I saw in Soweto today and the DA-run City of Cape Town is clear: where the DA governs, we deliver for all. The people of Soweto, and others throughout the country who have received shoddy and poorly built RDP houses, deserve the same.
Statement issued by Mmusi Maimane, DA Mayoral Candidate for the city of Johannesburg, March 30 2011
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