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North West abandoned housing development
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has found the North West Department of Human Settlements to have violated the right to adequate housing. This comes as more than 5 500 RDP projects remain incomplete in the province.
According to the Commission, its investigations validated the complaints it received dating back to 2011. It indicated that the challenges are systemic and widespread, affecting all municipalities across the province.
The SAHRC has blamed the province’s treasury and the office of the Premier, for failing to conduct proper oversight, resulting in inadequate planning and contractual disputes, leaving many RDP projects abandoned as a result.
Specific violations include delays in issuing title deeds which undermines beneficiaries’ security, and housing design that compromises privacy and accessibility for persons with disabilities.
70-year-old Basebi Mogorosi from Tsetse village outside Mahikeng is one of those affected. Mogorosi still lives in a one-room shack, despite having applied for an RDP house since 1995.
“I need a house, when it rains water gets into my shack. my shack also gets blown by strong winds.”
Her son, Buti Motshabi, says he had to rebuild the shack after it was blown down twice.
“I had to rebuild the shack twice. It was blown away by strong winds twice. I had to request our neighours to help me rebuild it after people told me that my mother was living in the streets because her shack got blown away.”
SAHRC Commissioner Phindile Ntuli says they have recorded 457 complaints, with 205 new cases registered recently. She says this highlights a persistent demand for accountability and solutions in addressing housing challenges.
“Other government departments that are meant to play an oversight role over the Department of Human Settlements such as North West treasury, as well as North West office of the Premier. They have collectively been complicit in these failures. They are complicit because they failed to take reasonable measures to hold the Department of Human Settlements to account, and to ensure that funds allocated to them for housing and projects, deliver value to the state and the beneficiaries.”
Ntuli cited that the inaction of municipalities had a far-reaching impact, contributing to a huge provincial housing backlog as of March 2023.
“As of March 2023, the backlog stood at 318,605, according to the portfolio committee. This kind of suffering in the face of the department that has done very little to address their plight is unquestionable. Accordingly, the delays in the finalisation of the housing projects in North West Province not only violate the rights of the beneficiaries but also their right to adequate housing and human dignity.”
The SAHRC has instructed the North West Department of Human Settlements to compile a report within three months, on the progress made on the number of houses completed and defective houses repaired.
