THE housing situation in Drakenstein was brought under the magnifying glass last week, when Western Cape minister of human settlements, Bonginkosi Madikizelam and senior provincial officials visited Drakenstein’s mayor and council members.

This is part of the minister’s pledge to ensure the accelerated delivery of housing opportunities to the people who most need them, with a strategic focus on the provision of basic services.

Madikizela has indicated concern at the slow pace of housing delivery at municipal level in various municipalities in the Western Cape. Other municipalities which he visited included Oudtshoorn, Bitou, Mossel Bay, Swartland, Breede Valley and Stellenbosch.

In a statement the minister said that the department is on track to spend 100% of its budget of R1,638 billion by the end of the financial year in March, and has approved and allocated funding to municipalities to implement their housing plans.

Madikizela’s department has a target of delivering 12 652 houses and is on track to deliver 12 050 (95% of the houses). However, it also has a target of delivering 13 059 serviced sites, yet with the current rate of delivery, only 8 555 sites will be completed.

According to Madikizela, the main issue is that municipalities are allocated funding from the Division of Revenue Act (DORA). The funding is only transferred to them as they claim for work done.

Drakenstein has only claimed around 40% of its DORA allocation for the financial year.

The visit to Drakenstein was thus specifically to establish why only such a small amount had been claimed and how to unblock projects so that service delivery could be accelerated.

Some of the reasons identified for blockage are difficult community dynamics, problems with the contractors and suppliers, or issues with beneficiary allocation.

Other reasons for lack of housing delivery have in the past included a lack of professional capacity and forward planning. Van Deventer said that the Municipality plans to unblock more projects as soon as possible.