The human settlements sector will soon have a revised framework to guide the municipalities’ administration of national housing programmes.
This follows the approval of the 2023 Revised Accreditation Framework for municipalities to administer the National Housing Programmes, and ensure municipalities’ progressive capacitation to perform the delegated functions without compromising delivery capacity in the short-term.
The framework was approved on Friday, 15 September following a presentation tabled at a meeting between Human Settlements Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi, Deputy Minister Pam Tshwete and provincial MECs of Human Settlements (MINMEC), where it received resounding support.
Kubayi said the approval of the framework is a big step towards the creation of objective criteria for accrediting municipalities with a clear accreditation process timetable.
“Allowing municipalities to progressively build implementation capacity bolsters our long-term objective of creating a fully enabling environment for our municipalities to be self-sufficient in human settlements delivery. This way, we are capacitating them while ensuring that we reach our targets,” Kubayi said.
The Minister noted that the implementation of the 2012 Accreditation Framework faced several implementation challenges in some provinces.
She said the 2023 Revised Accreditation Framework introduces, among others, a programme-based incremental approach, wherein municipalities are to be accredited for implementing a programme or mixture of programmes that are relevant to their capacity and priority needs.
“Another major intervention in the revised framework is the role of intermediate city municipalities or secondary cities, which are considered crucial catalysts for more balanced and dispersed growth across the country,” the Minister said.
Title Deeds Programme remains priority
The MINMEC also agreed that the Title Deeds Programme must be prioritised through several interventions, including embarking on weekly roadshows to issue the 234 757 available title deeds nationally.
The discussions focused on the turnaround time by municipalities to declare townships, with an agreement to collaborate on cross-border demarcation, particularly as it impacts on the title deeds roll out programme.
The issuing of title deeds across provinces is an apex priority for the department, and as part of efforts to clear the backlog, the municipalities were urged to refrain from storing them in their offices and make concerted efforts to ensure that people become the rightful owners of their homes.
“The department has been incorporating the issuing of title deeds with housing handovers, given the urgency by government to significantly unlock economic benefits,” Kubayi said.
Source: South African Government News Agency