1. Hon. MEC, the MF welcomes these practical changes to housing policy for first-time home-owners who fall out of BNG or Breaking New Ground strategy.
2. Hon. members, the late Mr A Rajbansi pre-1994 had a similar plan and released land for site and service to afford households the opportunity to build and own homes. Examples that attest to this is the Phoenix Palmview Housing scheme and others.
3. Today, homeowners still appreciate this opportunity whereby serviced sites, as well as basic housing foundation material was supplied to people and they did the rest to complete their homes. Self-help projects do work.
4. For a few years, families living in congestion in flats in Chatsworth approached me to form groups of 10 or more persons, pool their resources and build their own homes, if only the state could give them serviced sites. The department left policy change to National.
5. The MF has always advocated housing co-operatives as a viable model to not only get people homes but open up the economy due to other banking and business activities. Hon. MEC, such housing co-operatives should be deliberated on, as they have worked excellently in countries like Canada and contribute immensely to the GDP.
6. Finally, I wish to comment on a housing project we recently visited in Wyebank. Hon. MEC, we were told by the Ethekwini contractors that the designs were approved by the informal dwellers, however as a woman I cannot fathom how a family and their belongings will fit into the minimalist structure. JoJo tanks are supplied but not solar geysers, yet going green is so crucial now in buildings. Hon. MEC, even informal dwellers are economically active and rather do an income survey and many may be able to build a simple, complete house in time with serviced site ownership.
7. Thank you.

Hon. S. Thakur-Rajbansi