By BAKANG MOKOTO
10 April 2025- Speaking recently at the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on the occasion of the debate on housing inadequacy in South Africa and the prevalence of informal settlements, North West MEC for Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (COGHSTA), Oageng Molapisi, has acknowledged that his department is currently facing housing backlogs due to amongst others the non effective operational municipal system and thus hinders and delays the department to provide adequate housing to the people.
Molapisi said the department is aware of the municipal infrastructure units’ shortcomings such as the deterioration of the infrastructure and therefore having significant effect in housing delivery is compromised.
He further highlighted budget cuts and increase in population as other factors impacting the delivery of houses in the province. He added that, for instance, the province used to get R2 billion in grant funding nearly ten years ago, but like many provinces, that has since changed.
“The targeted delivery of homes and serviced sites decreased as a result of budget cuts that cut off R400 million just two fiscal years ago. With regards to the increasing number of informal settlements in the province, the department continues to observe the expansion of informal settlements, especially at the mining towns due to potential employment opportunities.
“Municipalities are also inundated with constant land invasions putting pressure to the department to respond expeditiously to provide basic services thereby disrupting normal planning cycle and processes,” said Molapisi.
He said they cannot shy away from the fact that informal settlements are increasing. Molapisi said is for this reason that the National Department of Human Settlements has adopted the White Paper for Human Settlements (2024), which provides for a tacit approach to address challenges arising from informal settlements.
“To align and play our part, the North West Department of Human Settlements has just completed an informal settlement upgrading strategy after which it will commence with informal settlements upgrading projects”.
“In addition, the Department of Human Settlements is working closely with the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in the province to resolve challenges of bulk infrastructure at affected municipalities,” he said.
Molapisi said through the COGTA Bulk Infrastructure Committee (BIC), they have taken advantage of the Infrastructure South Africa (ISA) bid window to apply for bulk infrastructure projects. He said they are working around the clock to try source available funding to alleviate the situation.
“We remain committed to creating sustainable human settlements. It is our considered view that the restoration of our people’s dignity rests in housing them in habitable homes with basic amenities. The Department of Human Settlements is putting a spotlight on issues of lack of bulk infrastructure for human settlements projects, as well as promoting integration of social and economic aspects thereby yielding dividends in terms of spatial planning, community services and broader quality of life for our citizens.
“Through the District Development Model (DDM), we are encouraging our municipalities to consider using bylaws to address land invasions coupled with planning to formalise old settlements on available vacant state land,” said Molapisi.
The Guardian 