NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
WRITTEN RESPONSE
Parliamentary question NO. 492
Mrs V Bam-Mugwanya (ANC) to ask the Minister of Human Settlements:
(1) What steps is he taking with regard to contractors who built flawed houses for Government housing schemes;
(2) whether they will have to (a) reimburse the money they were paid and (b) demolish and rebuild at own cost; if not, why not in each case, if so, what are the relevant details;
(3) how will officials (a) be held accountable who accepted substandard building work and (b) share in the cost to the Government?
Response
(1) Through the announced national audit the department is taking civil and criminal action against companies/developers or contractors who built flawed houses for Government housing schemes:
a) The process is currently progressing well under the management of the Special Investigating Unit.
(2) (a) The civil process seeks to recover all the losses suffered by the department as a result of failure to exercise due care by companies/developers or contractors and some contractors have already signed acknowledgements of debt with the department for failure to deliver when money had already been paid to them.
(b) The cost of demolishing and rebuilding the houses that have necessitated demolishing have been borne by the Department of Human Settlements in order to fast track the service delivery process whilst the litigation process to establish the cause for the structural defects is in progress.
(3) (a) Disciplinary and/or criminal action will be taken against all officials who are required to oversee the process, and have been found to have been accepting substandard building work and those that have been in collusion with the contractors, which could be an act of fraud.
(b) In making decisions with regards to action to be taken against individuals at all levels of government, the department will also consider the need for any individual or parties to be sued for damages suffered by the department.
Source: www.parliament.gov.za, April 7 2010
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