Cape Town - Western Cape Human Settlement MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela had tempers flaring in the provincial legislature on Thursday when he said the government was not obligated to give free houses to everyone.
Tabling his department’s annual report, Madikizela said only the most deserving, those who had been on the waiting list the longest, would be prioritised.
There is a housing backlog of more than 500 000 and only 12 681 houses were built during the past financial year.
EFF MPL Nazier Paulsen questioned why such a low targets were set as a goal for the past financial year.
Madikizela explained that the constitution did not state that government must give people houses for free but instead stipulated that the state must provide within its “available resources”.
“That’s what the constitution says, it does not give us a blank cheque,” he said.
But Paulsen interjected saying “only sell-outs agree with it”.
Madikizela also criticised the notion that giving unemployed people houses was a solution.
“If people have houses and they are not working they end up selling them, so this notion that because people are not working they must be given houses and we think that is a solution, it is not,” Madikizela said.
He stressed that the days of giving 20 year olds houses were also over.
“We need to encourage young people to demonstrate for jobs instead of demonstrating for houses… As a country collectively we have to deal with the challenges of unemployment but you can’t then compensate by giving someone a house.”
The MEC said apart from exceptional cases like child-headed households and people with special needs or disabilities, would also be prioritised.
Conceding that the state must do everything possible to deal with the legacy of the past and apartheid the MEC cautioned against “overcompensating for the past at the expense of the future”.
“It is a reality that we cannot give this impression that government will provide everything for people and people must fold their arms. And that is the impression that some of the honourable people are giving here. We are misleading our people if we say that,” he stressed.
But ANC MPL Khaya Magaxa said that free housing was a very important issue for people who had been historically marginalised for many decades.
“It is not a mistake that every poor household has to have a free house; it’s an acknowledgment of our past. And I think 20 years after democracy that is still far from being resolved.”
And he lashed out at Madikizela saying “I think to reduce it to just a mere (issue of being) dependent on the state, is irresponsible even for an African to say that,” he said as he urged for sensitivity.
Magaxa questioned Madikizela about his department’s engagement with communities to avoid situations like the sanitation issue which saw resistance in some communities.
But the MEC said they were required by law to embark on a consultation process prior to starting any projects.
He said the people who were at the forefront of demonstrations were the same people who were at the forefront of consul- tations, agreeing with government. “We’ve learnt valuable lessons, that there are people who are gatekeepers in communities who claim to represent communities while they represent their own interests,” he said.
Political Bureau