PROVINCES and municipalities have refused to provide the national department of Human Settlements with progress reports regarding housing projects in their areas.
Minister Tokyo Sexwale said in his annual report, tabled in Parliament yesterday, that the tendency made it impossible for the national department to know whether housing projects were going ahead or stalling.
He said some provinces and municipalities just ignored his department when they asked for progress reports.
He said that to make matters worse, vacant posts in the housing planning and delivery support unit meant that "it has been impossible to track the progress made with other projects" he said.
Six housing projects were affected including the Duncan Village project in East London, Grasslands project in Free State, and the Emnambithi housing project in Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal.
Sexwale said the KZN provincial housing department was "reluctant to use housing funds" for the Emnambithi project. The department was not even willing to attend a meeting to discuss the matter, he said.
The Chief Albert Luthuli Extension Six project in Ekurhuleni was also affected. This new project was supposed to provide houses for shack dwellers from the Gabon, Emandleni, Chris Hani and Home Seekers informal settlements, but Sexwale said because of a lack of staff, he was unable to know if the project was still on track.
People waiting for houses to come from the Disteneng project near Polokwane threatened earlier this year to block the main road to the city if they didn't get houses.
Sexwale said this project had run into problems after "contractors failed to perform, and there were payment disputes which led to the project becoming blocked", he said.
His department only learnt that there were problems at a late stage "because the Polokwane municipality and Limpopo Provincial department did not submit progress reports, in spite of numerous requests", Sexwale added.
The Lerato Park project in Kimberley, Klarinet project in Witbank, and Khutsong project had also run into "challenges", the Annual Report stated.
The Human Settlements department had R13billion to spend last year - R12,5billion of this was directed straight to the provincial housing departments.
Only Mpumalanga and Western Cape failed to spend all their housing money. But Western Cape and Eastern Cape were good at providing regular progress reports, the Annual Report found.
Meanwhile, the department is one step away from a clean audit after running up almost one R1million in irregular spending last year.
In its Annual Report, tabled in Parliament yesterday, Auditor-General Terence Nombembe gave Tokyo Sexwale's department an unqualified audit.
Sexwale finding it tough
PROVINCES and municipalities have refused to provide the national department of Human Settlements with progress reports regarding housing projects in their areas.
Minister Tokyo Sexwale said in his annual report, tabled in Parliament yesterday, that the tendency made it impossible for the national department to know whether housing projects were going ahead or stalling.
He said some provinces and municipalities just ignored his department when they asked for progress reports.
He said that to make matters worse, vacant posts in the housing planning and delivery support unit meant that "it has been impossible to track the progress made with other projects" he said.
Six housing projects were affected including the Duncan Village project in East London, Grasslands project in Free State, and the Emnambithi housing project in Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal.
Sexwale said the KZN provincial housing department was "reluctant to use housing funds" for the Emnambithi project. The department was not even willing to attend a meeting to discuss the matter, he said.
The Chief Albert Luthuli Extension Six project in Ekurhuleni was also affected. This new project was supposed to provide houses for shack dwellers from the Gabon, Emandleni, Chris Hani and Home Seekers informal settlements, but Sexwale said because of a lack of staff, he was unable to know if the project was still on track.
People waiting for houses to come from the Disteneng project near Polokwane threatened earlier this year to block the main road to the city if they didn't get houses.
Sexwale said this project had run into problems after "contractors failed to perform, and there were payment disputes which led to the project becoming blocked", he said.
His department only learnt that there were problems at a late stage "because the Polokwane municipality and Limpopo Provincial department did not submit progress reports, in spite of numerous requests", Sexwale added.
The Lerato Park project in Kimberley, Klarinet project in Witbank, and Khutsong project had also run into "challenges", the Annual Report stated.
The Human Settlements department had R13billion to spend last year - R12,5billion of this was directed straight to the provincial housing departments.
Only Mpumalanga and Western Cape failed to spend all their housing money. But Western Cape and Eastern Cape were good at providing regular progress reports, the Annual Report found.
Meanwhile, the department is one step away from a clean audit after running up almost one R1million in irregular spending last year.
In its Annual Report, tabled in Parliament yesterday, Auditor-General Terence Nombembe gave Tokyo Sexwale's department an unqualified audit.
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