Hon. Members, homelessness is an indictment on human dignity wherever it occurs, whichever government was or is in power.

The land grab scenario in Chatsworth is a real concern as an election ploy for the 2019 general elections, and the mushrooming of informal settlements is promoted by other political parties to divide and rule. These devious activities go against the grain of the South African Constitution because everyone has a right to proper housing. Housing should not be used as vote bank politics by politic parties. Housing is an ongoing service delivery issues, not a once in 5 years election issues.

Apart from housing backlogs, stalled housing projects are the result of fiscal dumping of human settlements budget to inefficient municipalities. Once again, this is a case of poor provincial and municipal planning, hence the MF debate today about the criteria to select departmental planners.

There is a clear exploitation on the desperation of homeless people. A housing list prioritising homeless people as first on the list would be welcomed. The freedom charter states that slums shall be demolished, and new suburbs built where all have transport and roads.

As long as the Slum Clearance Act is not fast tracked, chaos and lawlessness will continue. The LAMOSA judgment, stalling land reform for the next few years; the snail’s pace of the Ingonyama Trust land negotiations and the uncontrolled entry of foreigners are bigger challenges that also exist. Notwithstanding these, the life of immigrants is difficult to imagine and settling on a ‘safe’ piece of land is key to their survival. Simultaneously, the Bottlebrush informal settlement in question has become notorious for criminal activity and the devaluation of the surrounding houses. The dilemma for action is again constitutional because the Grootboom case sets precedence for adequate housing and other legislation prohibiting eviction without alternative settlement.

The MF reiterates the argument; unlock ‘Dead Capital’ fast as a means to building a productive and peaceful society or this capitalistic apartheid will continue.

This Hon. House calls on the MEC for Human Settlements to provide timeframes on service delivery which, should be submitted in a report to this sitting and made public knowledge. Furthermore, the MEC should be accountable for delays to date.

Thank You.

Shameen Thakur- Rajbansi

Minority Front  MPL KZN Legislature