Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale ought to be commended for cracking the whip on provincial housing departments which have failed to deliver on their own targets.

This week the minister took away unused R463 million from Free State and KwaZulu and instead allocated it to Limpopo and Northern Cape for the construction of new homes.

While the development is encouraging and shows government's seriousness in dealing with ineptitude, Sexwale must go further by bringing to book the individuals responsible for failing the homeless in the provinces concerned.

They must not only be punished for their slackness but also be named and shamed.

Housing remains one of the pressing areas in the country and failure to spend allotted expenditure towards that goal must rank as the most treasonous of infractions.