Makhura’s cabinet not in touch with reality

6 August 2018

It is now clear that Gauteng Premier David Makhura’s cabinet is not in touch with the reality on the ground. They claim that no complaints were received regarding the poor construction and shoddy workmanship of RDP houses in Gauteng from the 2012/13 financial year to date.

This is absolutely incorrect as the DA has conducted several oversight inspections to various Gauteng housing projects, for example Kagiso and Vaal which both have poorly built RDP houses.

These houses have major structural damages such as cracks in the walls.

According to the Gauteng Human Settlements MEC, Uhuru Moiloa, in a written reply to DA questions in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature, there are no complaints received on poor construction and shoddy workmanship in government housing projects in Gauteng in the 2012/13, 2013/14, 2014/15, 2015/16, 2016/17 and 2017/18 financial years respectively.

The Project Quality Assurance (PQA) which is tasked with inspecting and approving housing projects before payments are made to the contractor is failing on its mandate.

The housing projects are approved and payments are made to contractors while houses are incomplete or not properly built.

This indicates a serious challenge of this department’s lack of quality assurance and project management.

Clearly Makhura’s cabinet is dependent on desktop information and cares little about inspecting the state and quality of the houses that have been given to our people.

Makhura and his ANC have failed to build adequate housing for our poor people who are in desperate need of housing. The DA is the only party that can bring Change and is committed to delivering quality and adequate housing for our Gauteng residents.

We will continue to hold the department and the MEC accountable in the Legislature for the poorly built RDP houses in Gauteng. The People of Gauteng deserves better.

Issued by Makashule Gana, DA Gauteng Spokesperson on Cooperative Governance, 6 August 2018