Cape Town - The GOOD Party says housing delivery in the Western Cape has clearly collapsed under the DA-led provincial government, with a declining number of units delivered every year over the past five years.
The party argues that the number of formal houses delivered across the entire province has gone down from an already low base of 8038 houses in 2019/20 to 4998 in 2023/24.
But Infrastructure MEC Tertuis Simmers said the delivery of human settlements had been impacted by budget cuts instituted by national Treasury.
In a statement, party secretary-general Brett Herron said the annual house delivery rate is collapsing and the province has not met its targets, and this situation is also evident in informal settlement upgrading.
“While families live in shocking conditions and suffer abnormal hardship, especially during this extremely wet winter, the province failed to spend its national grant allocation for the upgrade of informal settlements.
“The earmarked Informal Settlement Upgrade Grant was introduced in 2021/22. Yet, over the past two financial years, the Western Cape Government has underspent this grant to the tune of R335 million – nearly one-third of the allocated grant,” Herron said.
Herron said as a result of this poor performance, the people who are waiting on their housing opportunity have lost over half a billion Rand (R505 million) of housing funding.
“Provincial minister of Infrastructure, Tertuis Simmers, revealed that, in 2023/24, R250 million allocated for building houses has been reallocated to other provinces that are capable of spending this funding on housing.
“He also revealed that R255 million allocated for upgrading informal settlements was forfeited by the province over the past three years,” Herron explained.
Leader of the opposition in the Western Cape, the ANC’s Khalid Sayed, said they were disappointed by the ongoing decline in housing delivery under the DA-led provincial government.
“Housing is a fundamental human right, and the failure of the Western Cape government to meet its targets year after year is unacceptable.
“The loss of R505 million in national funding due to underspending is particularly alarming. This money could have significantly improved the lives of many residents, especially those living in informal settlements, who continue to endure harsh conditions, particularly during the wet winter months,” Sayed said.
Simmers said the Human Settlements portfolio has been impacted by budget cuts in the national grant funding for the 2023/2024 and the 2024/2025 financial year.
“These budget cuts are expected to continue going forward. Added to which the increase in the subsidy quantum means in real teams that there will be an impact on the number of opportunities that can be provided,” Simmers said.
Simmers added that the department’s provision of housing units and serviced sites aligns with the overarching mission of ensuring adequate housing, and these annual targets were established prior to the commencement of the current five-year cycle.
“Notably, these targets were not revised downward despite encountering several challenges. These challenges encompassed issues such as subpar contractor performance, delays in procurement processes, instances of community unrest, limited cooperation from key stakeholders, and unfortunate incidents of extortion occurring on various projects.
“One must also consider the impact Covid-19 and subsequent lockdown measures had on the industry nationally. The wider impacts the pandemic had include interruptions in the supply of material, job losses, loss of revenue which caused staff reductions, increased prices, major firms closing, among others,” he said.
Ndifuna Ukwazi researcher Nick Budlender said they are concerned that this issue is not getting the attention, urgency, or priority it deserves. “It is undeniable that the province can and should do more to address our housing crisis, and it is deeply disappointing to see yet another year of serious under-performance.”
Cape Argus