Parliament — The Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements will this week undertake an oversight visit to Free State to assess the implementation of the Department of Human Settlements' strategic plan in providing housing opportunities to the people of the province.
The visit, which is in line with Parliament's oversight mandate over the executive, will seek to assess progress in unblocking blocked projects, project planning and management, the eradication of asbestos roofs in the province, eradication of informal settlements and eradication of the bucket system.
"The department plays a critical role in the attainment of the constitutional right to quality human Settlements and it is critical that as a committee of Parliament we monitor the roll out of programmes. The committee has observed through its oversight work the poor project planning and management that has led to stalled projects robbing the people from benefiting directly from the projects. Our visit is to ensure that the department is finding solutions and implementing projects that will directly benefit the people, mostly the poor," said Mr Nocks Seabi, the Chairperson of the Committee.
Also, as the country faces increasing disasters that affect the poor mostly, the committee will use the visit to assess the roll-out of the Emergency Housing Fund which in the last financial year only 5% was spent of the allocated R476 million.
The Free State has been identified as one of the provinces that have perennially underspend their infrastructure budget leading to loss of resources to other provinces. The committee will also use the visit to assess spending on critical infrastructure.
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"Infrastructure programmes have been identified as the key drivers of economic recovery in the country and the committee views spending of resources as not only beneficial to creating housing opportunities but also important in unlocking economic growth and job creation. This visit will assess spending vis-à-vis jobs created in the province," Mr Seabi said.
Details of the visit (Day 1)
Date: Monday, 24 March 2025
Time: 09:00
Venue: Bloemfontein
Topic: Meeting with the National and Provincial Department of Human Settlements, MEC, Head of Department and Mangaung Metropolitan and all the municipalities to be
visited on the implementation of the human settlement's strategic plans, projects and programmes.
