Some have even died without ever receiving their title deeds.
But Pieters wants this to be a thing of the past.
“Through the title deeds restoration grant, the department will register 10,000 title deeds for the pre-2014 category. Within the HSDG [human settlements development grant], 5,000 title deeds will be registered in the post-2014 category and 3,000 title deeds will be handed over.
“The department is encouraging municipalities to allocate serviced sites to approved beneficiaries and will strive to ensure that beneficiaries are provided with title deeds prior to construction of houses. This will assist in addressing the perennial challenge of illegal occupation,” she said.
She stressed that they would not tolerate manipulation of housing lists, or illegal use or sale of houses, and called on municipalities to be more transparent with how houses were allocated.
Human settlements said construction companies responsible for poor and shoddy workmanship over the years would be blacklisted as the government would not continue rectifying poorly built homes. This, the department said at both provincial and national level, was because housing rectification could not be a priority.
It could not be established whether any contractors had already been blacklisted.
However, construction of shoddy houses appears to continue unabated. Pieters said R171m would be spent to rectify 1,217 shoddy houses in the province.
Human settlements gears up for title deed handover drive
Image: ALAN EASON
In a bid to prevent RDP houses from being illegally occupied, the Eastern Cape human settlements department wants to give beneficiaries title deeds before the government even builds them houses.
This was announced by human settlements MEC Nokqubela Pieters while delivering the budget and policy speech at the legislature in Bhisho on Tuesday.
For years, hundreds of housing beneficiaries have waited desperately for their title deeds — some even since before 1994 — while others have watched helplessly as houses meant to be theirs were illegally occupied by others.
The shambolic situation has included municipalities going to court to get eviction orders, which sometimes turn violent as illegal occupants clash with law enforcement officers. RDP housing lists have pitted residents against one another as in some cases more than one list is drawn up; at times three households have fought for a house they all say is rightfully theirs.
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Some have even died without ever receiving their title deeds.
But Pieters wants this to be a thing of the past.
“Through the title deeds restoration grant, the department will register 10,000 title deeds for the pre-2014 category. Within the HSDG [human settlements development grant], 5,000 title deeds will be registered in the post-2014 category and 3,000 title deeds will be handed over.
“The department is encouraging municipalities to allocate serviced sites to approved beneficiaries and will strive to ensure that beneficiaries are provided with title deeds prior to construction of houses. This will assist in addressing the perennial challenge of illegal occupation,” she said.
She stressed that they would not tolerate manipulation of housing lists, or illegal use or sale of houses, and called on municipalities to be more transparent with how houses were allocated.
Human settlements said construction companies responsible for poor and shoddy workmanship over the years would be blacklisted as the government would not continue rectifying poorly built homes. This, the department said at both provincial and national level, was because housing rectification could not be a priority.
It could not be established whether any contractors had already been blacklisted.
However, construction of shoddy houses appears to continue unabated. Pieters said R171m would be spent to rectify 1,217 shoddy houses in the province.
Foundations of 100 'vandalised' Eastern Cape RDP houses to be rebuilt
The MEC announced R270m would be spent on upgrading 113 informal settlements in the 2020/21 financial year in the regional municipalities. Bhisho will monitor expenditure of the urban settlements development grants that Buffalo City Metro (R152m) and Nelson Mandela Bay (R181m) received from national government.
Pieters announced that R440m — which is 30% of their construction budget — would be allocated to construction companies owned by women and the youth.
“Furthermore, the department will continue to implement 30% subcontracting of locally based SMMEs, including people living with disabilities and military veterans, for all projects over R30m in line with the requirements of the Preferential Procurement Framework Regulations of 2017.
“A total of 88 SMMEs will be supported through training and work,” she said.
Reporting back on what was achieved in the 2019/20 financial year, Pieters said they handed over a number of houses to military veterans, destitute people and vulnerable households.
“As at the end of February 2020, the department has delivered a total of 8,582 units, with 5,701 for destitute and vulnerable groups and 60 units for military veterans.”
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