By Thapelo Molefe
Human Settlements Minister Thembi Simelane says government is working to unblock more than 200 stalled human settlements projects across the country, warning that poor coordination between housing and basic infrastructure has delayed delivery and increased costs.
Speaking at the inaugural Western Cape Ministerial Infrastructure Roundtable in Cape Town on Thursday, Simelane said housing projects cannot succeed without adequate water, sanitation, electricity, roads and transport infrastructure being in place.
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She said many projects had stalled because they were launched without proper alignment between different spheres of government and infrastructure planning.
“We continue to see the consequences of projects initiated without sufficient alignment between housing, water, sanitation, energy, mobility and social infrastructure. Projects become blocked or delayed; costs escalate; contractors leave sites; communities lose confidence; and government struggles to meet its delivery commitments,” Simelane said.
The minister said government had adopted a national strategy to unblock more than 200 human settlements projects and stressed that better coordination was needed between land planning, infrastructure, funding and implementation.
Simelane said Cabinet’s 2024 White Paper for Human Settlements marked a shift away from focusing only on building houses towards developing integrated and sustainable communities.
“A house does not, on its own, constitute a sustainable human settlement. It must be located on suitable and well-positioned land and connected to water, sanitation, electricity, roads, public transport, schools, health facilities, digital infrastructure and economic opportunity,” she said.
She also highlighted the scale of South Africa’s housing demand, saying the national housing backlog is estimated at between 2.1 million and 2.4 million homes, while about 3.4 million households are registered on the National Housing Needs Register.
She said the Western Cape remains one of the provinces under the greatest pressure because of urbanisation, population growth and migration.
Referring to the Constitutional Court’s recent Tafelberg judgment, Simelane said the ruling reinforced government’s obligation to consider well-located public land for affordable housing and spatial transformation before disposing of it.
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The judgment set aside the Western Cape government’s sale of the Tafelberg property in Sea Point, Cape Town, after the court found that authorities had failed to properly consider the site’s potential for affordable housing and the constitutional right of access to adequate housing.
She identified three immediate priorities for government which are releasing well-located land for development, completing stalled housing projects, and investing in bulk infrastructure to support new developments.
“The state cannot, on its own, resolve the scale and complexity of the housing and infrastructure challenge. Partnerships are indispensable,” Simelane said.
She urged all spheres of government, development finance institutions and the private sector to work together to accelerate infrastructure delivery, saying success would ultimately be measured by completed projects and improved living conditions rather than announcements.
“The measure of success will not be the number of project announcements or the quality of our discussions. It will be our ability to move from commitments to implementation, from allocations to completed infrastructure, from fragmented projects to integrated settlements, and from programmes to visible improvements in communities,” she said.
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