Rustenburg - The North West provincial legislature’s Portfolio Committee on Local Government and Human Settlements is worried at how housing beneficiary lists are managed, chairperson Motlalepule Rosho said on Wednesday.
“We are concerned about how beneficiary lists are managed in municipalities and the department [of human settlement] is not playing a role on cleaning up the lists and ensuring that the lists are verified and there are no delays,” Rosho said.
“The department and the municipality must go back to re-look into the system and ensure that those who receive houses are the right beneficiaries…”
The committee blasted the department for lack of progress on addressing various backlogs on housing projects and on poor management of beneficiary lists, following its visit to several housing projects in the Matlosana local municipality on Tuesday.
Rosho said they were worried that the Matlosana Community Residential Units (CRU) project has been completed but, remained unoccupied because of outstanding issues which were not included in the tender for the CRU, such as wardrobes and stoves.
“What we are concerned about on the CRUs is why the Matlosana CRU project was implemented differently from the pilot project in Tlokwe CRU and Marikana CRU project yet it is the same project…”
She said the committee was also worried about the slow pace on housing projects in Kanana.
The head of department, Ephraim Motoko said Matlosana CRU was contracted in April 2013 to yield 100 units at a cost of R28 million and there was no occupation due to lack of in-house furniture such as stoves, cupboards and outdoor structures such as car ports.
“We currently on tendering processes to furnish the CRU. Both Khuma and Kanana housing projects experienced construction delays and challenges of identifying relevant beneficiaries during the time of construction.”
He said in Kanana Ext 13, where 390 houses were to be build, the project was stopped by the department due to the milestones the developer claimed which were not there during the time of audit.
Rosho said the committee expected the department to deal with the inspector who misled the department on the payment of a contractor while the work was not done.
“We need to set an example so that public servants must know that when they work within the construction industry, it’s not for their benefit but of the disadvantaged people who needs shelter.”
On Monday, the committee was not happy with the housing backlog in the Moretele local municipality. The backlog includes a deserted housing project in Mogogelo village, Maubane and Greenside.
Moretele mayor Makinta Monaheng, told committee that projects did not go as planned because of improper project management, which led to hundreds of houses left incomplete.
Some of the houses were only in slabs and others with wall plate stages with no roofing.
African News Agency