13 Mar 2014

Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Peter Siele said since 2009 about 120 out of a total of 91 housing units have been completed.

Mr Siele told Parliament that the completing of such houses represents an overall success rate of 63 per cent for Kgalagadi District.

Answering a parliamentary question from the Member of Parliament for Kgalagadi North Mr Phillip Khwae, Minister Siele said the balance of 71 units was still under various stages of construction. He stated that for the current financial year, 15 housing units (8 Hukuntsi and 7 Tsabong) for home improvement and had been funded at a cost of P625, 460 and construction was ongoing.

He further said all qualifying Self Help Agency (SHHA) applications were approved within one month by Council within the Ministry’s standards.

The minister noted that there were challenges relating to programme implementation due to amongst others, capacity constraints and delays in disbursement of funds from the Ministry of Lands and Housing.

Minister Siele said his Ministry through Kgalagadi District Council has taken a deliberate decision to use Council inspectors engaged in other projects such as destitute housing to carry out inspections for SHHA houses.

MP Khwae had asked the minister to state the success rate of the implementation of SHHA scheme in the Kgalagadi District Council and the Hukuntsi Sub- District since 2009.

He also wanted to know whether the implementation of the SHHA scheme is within service standard and whether the minister was content with the pace at which the SHHA scheme was being implemented, and if not what strategy had been put in place to speed up its implementation. Ends