​Thembisa Shologu
Department of Human Settlements and Infrastructure Development has delivered more than 15625 housing opportunities to Gauteng beneficiaries.
Tabling the department's budget vote at the Legislature on Thursday, 25 May, MEC Lebogang Maile said they had managed to turn the department around to be 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, which it plans to use to service 5667 stands and build 7502 housing units amongst other things.
"Our beneficiary management system has significantly improved, so that housing units are given to deserving beneficiaries on a speedily basis. Furthermore, we have taken a deliberate decision to prioritize the elderly on our beneficiary list," said MEC Maile. 
The department will also aid 64 district based informal settlements over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), whilst the balance will be taken care of by the metros.
The aim of the Informal Settlement Upgrading Programme is to formalise informal settlements and afford residents, security of tenure in formalised townships. 
"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," added MEC Maile. 
Additional key priorities for the department include relocation of 6 informal settlements. Priority will be given to the Mamelodi flood victims and K54 Road Reserve informal settlement, in a partnership with the City of Tshwane. 
Maile said the department had completed some key interventions as part of this plan which include; 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 to align its functions and service delivery model to the Infrastructure Delivery Management System (IDMS)," he said.
In addition, the department has been working tirelessly to turn around the negative audit outcomes and 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.