An enormous housing backlog is depriving scores of Gauteng residents of a Constitutional right. [Picture: via Mail & Guardian]
It will take more than a century to clear the housing backlog in Gauteng, South Africa’s most populous province. That is according to the Democratic Alliance (DA), which based its estimate on information obtained from the provincial department of human settlements.
Responding to a question from the DA in the provincial legislature, human settlements MEC Tasneem Motara revealed there were more than 1.3 million residents waiting on the government for houses. Some have been waiting since 1994.
At the current pace of delivery, the backlog can be expected to be cleared in 158 years’ time. Right now, homeless people are forced to fend for themselves on the streets. Those who can, live in shelters or in squalid conditions in shanty towns.
The scale of the housing backlog is evident in statistics Motara offered in her response. Between the 2019/20 and 20203/24 financial years, just 43 050 houses were delivered. This works out to an average of 8 610 per year.
The number of houses eventually allocated is even more dismal, standing at little more than half (54%) of those delivered. The target for the current financial year is 5 923.
Evert Du Plessis MPL, DA Gauteng spokesperson for human settlements, slammed Panyaza Lesufi’s administration for its “unmistakable incompetence in alleviating the suffering of poor residents in this province” obvious in the slow pace of housing delivery.
“At the heart of this issue is their failure to effectively plan and manage the funds to provide relief to Gauteng residents, who have been waiting in vain for 28 years,” he added.
Motara’s department is currently under investigation by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU). The unit is looking into allegations of maladministration in connection with two tenders issued by the department.
