Thembisa Shologu
The Gauteng Department of Human Settlements and Infrastructure Development has delivered more than 15 625 housing opportunities to deserving beneficiaries.
Tabling the department's Budget Vote at the Legislature on Thursday, MEC Lebogang Maile said they had managed to turn the department around as a centre of service delivery excellence even under difficult conditions. 
The department has been allocated an amount of R6 421 222 000 for the 2023/24 financial year.
"Accompanying this reality, illegal occupation of houses, land invasions and mushrooming of new shacks sought to undermine the advances we are making in providing shelter to beneficiaries.
"Our beneficiary management system has significantly improved so that housing units are given to deserving beneficiaries speedily. Furthermore, we have deliberately decided to prioritise the elderly on our beneficiary list," said MEC Maile. 
This financial year, the department plans to service 5 667 stands and build 7 502 housing units.
As a provincial government, the department will assist 64 district-based informal settlements over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), whilst the metros will take care of the balance.
The Informal Settlement Upgrading Programme aims to formalise informal settlements and give citizens tenure security in formalised townships. 
"However, this process is a challenge in the Gauteng context because when decongestion takes place, new households occupy decongested spaces and to deal with this problem, we have taken a stance that we will be relocating or decongesting informal settlement households into completed units in mega projects or new housing developments from now onward. 
"From the allocated Informal Settlement Upgrading Partnership Grant (ISUPG) of R1 226 949 billion earmarked to support district municipalities, 73% of this amount has been allocated towards permanent services and bulk link services," he said. 
Additional key priorities for the department include relocating six informal settlements, with the Mamelodi flood victims and K54 Road Reserve informal settlement being prioritised, in a partnership between the province and the City of Tshwane, through our entity, the GPF.
Maile said the department had completed some key interventions as part of this plan, including; the development of the Human Settlements Masterplan, the initiation of the multi-year project bank, the implementation of the e-invoicing system and the Customer Management System (CMS). 
"There are also several other interventions that are in progress, due to be completed during the current financial year, such as the finalisation of the organisational structure, which will assist the department in aligning its functions and service delivery model to the Infrastructure Delivery Management System (IDMS)," he said.
The department has been working tirelessly to turn around the negative audit outcomes; some have been resolved with the Auditor General's Office (AGSA). 
Furthermore, about 80% of the prior year's material misstatements have been reduced towards achieving an Unqualified Audit Opinion for the 2022/3 financial year. 
 Photo cred :SABC