Huge backlog in issuing title deeds deprive EC residents of opportunity
November 30th, 2022
There are more than 65 000 households in the Eastern Cape who are waiting for the issuing of their title deeds of their Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) properties. The DA is calling on the MEC for Human Settlements, Siphokazi Lusithi, to review the Title Deed Restoration Project and put mechanisms in place to clear the backlog as soon as possible, so that our people can sleep soundly, knowing that …
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Our children are dying to become men
August 5th, 2022 Serious interventions are needed to stop the deaths of our children when they embark on their traditional rites of passage into adulthood. A response to an oral question from the DA CoGTA MEC, Xolile Nqatha, revealed that we have lost 11 more lives this winter during the initiation season. Six deaths were recorded from the Mhlontlo Local Municipality, two from KSD Local Municipality, two from Ingquza Local Municipality and one …
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The Eastern Cape Department of Human Settlements needs to embrace new technologies if it wishes to tackle the inhumane housing backlog affecting this province. The Democratic Alliance will be lobbying the Department to accept new technologies, increase funding and further identify projects that can be implemented using new innovative ways of building houses. Tens of thousands of households in the province are still living in inadequate, informal structures, with no …
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The Eastern Cape Department of Human Settlements will once again not meet its delivery targets for the 2021/2022 financial year. This is despite the undertaking made by the Premier in his State of the Province address in 2021 that all performance-related challenges faced by the Department will be addressed. In a desperate attempt to save face, the Department made a last-ditch attempt to find housing beneficiaries by publishing a five-page …
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Project delays and the need to fix the shoddy workmanship of careless cadre contractors are placing a huge strain on the dwindling financial reserves of the Eastern Cape Department of Human Settlements. The Department should be instigating legal action against non-performing contractors so that they pay back the money. These contractors are stealing the roofs from over the heads of homeless people. Instead, despite shocking deliverables, the Human Settlements Department …
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ANC only pays lip service to transparency, accountability
June 11th, 2021 The ANC has once again proven that, when it comes to transparency and accountability, they might talk a good game but when it comes to taking action, they will close ranks and avoid accountability at all costs! Yesterday, I tabled a motion without notice, calling on the Premier to release a report relating to the plundering of hundreds of millions of rands worth of funds paid over to the Eastern …
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Stalled housing developments across the province are depriving beneficiaries of decent housing. Many beneficiaries have been forced to live in shacks, while the half-built structures promised to them get vandalised, their dreams of a better life stripped away, brick by brick. I am challenging the Human Settlements MEC, Nonceba Kontsiwe, to conduct a full audit of stalled projects across the project, so that interventions can be made. The Democratic Alliance …
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New Human Settlements MEC has work cut out for her
March 10th, 2021 The Democratic Alliance welcomes the removal of former Human Settlements MEC, Nonkqubela Pieters, by Premier Oscar Mabuyane, but serious questions need to be asked why she has been given control of another Department. Pieters leaves behind a Department, which, by the Premier’s own admission, has suffered greatly under her stewardship. This is why the DA called for Pieters to be removed in the first place. While we welcome MEC Nonceba …
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No action taken or budget available to address asbestos roofing in Eastern Cape
December 18th, 2020 The Eastern Cape has at least 5 463 RDP houses that still have asbestos roofing, despite the Department of Human Settlements having had 26 years to remove it, as all these houses were built prior to 1994. Despite the known health risks that the asbestos in these structures pose to our communities, including severe respiratory diseases and cancer, the Department of Human Settlements has failed to put a plan in …
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Urgent investigation into procurement of temporary structures needed
September 11th, 2020 The Democratic Alliance is calling for an urgent investigation into the procurement of temporary structures by the Department of Human Settlements in the Eastern Cape. These temporary structures were procured through deviation and without a competitive bidding process This was revealed in a response to a parliamentary question from the DA to MEC of Human Settlements, Nonkqubela Pieters. In the response MEC Pieters said 15 suppliers had been appointed through …
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