Media Release: Western Cape Human Settlements Partner with Garden Route District Municipality to accelerate service delivery

For Immediate Release
19 February 2021

The Western Cape Government has signed a ground-breaking Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with the Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM), to collaborate on selected human settlements initiatives.

The agreement, which is in line with the Joint District and Metro Approach, seeks to ensure that different levels of government work together to accelerate and enhance service delivery within the respective areas. This is the first of its kind in the Western Cape since district municipalities traditionally do not have any housing mandate. This MoA expires on 31 March 2023.

As part of this MoA, we’ve assisted with the necessary human resources, so that the relevant skills and experience for housing delivery are available within the GRDM.

We are also in the process of assisting the GRDM to apply for level 1 accreditation. This entails placing the authority and responsibility at the point of implementation as a means of accelerating the provision of housing opportunities, through a better coordinated approach to Human Settlements planning and project implementation.

This will consist of:

• Developing credible Housing sector plans;
• Housing management and oversight;
• Beneficiary management; and
• Budget Planning

This MoA will also allow us to address certain challenges that are experienced in housing delivery in the district.

These include:

• Providing affordable housing opportunities which include Financed Linked Individual Subsidy Programme (FLISP) market also referred to as “ GAP”. This is for the beneficiaries earning between R3,501 – R22,000, and
• The issuing of historic tittle deeds for the period 1994 – 2014, which currently has a backlog of 11 589.

In particular, our assessment has indicated that there is a great need for “GAP” housing in this District. The current housing demand database shows that there are 63 879 overall applicants for this District.

The GRDM will therefore assist the Department with accelerating opportunities for those within this market. In addition, those who might qualify for FLISP, but due to a poor credit record is unable to obtain a bond could also be assisted through the Department’s Credit Readiness Programme (CRP).

Our aim is to ensure that more individuals are able to own their homes to ensure security of tenure.

It is important to note that the GRDM will not be replacing the work done by the Municipalities, but will seek to complement, which further strengthens this process.

I’ve communicated previously, and I’d like to reiterate again, that other Districts should engage us, so that similar agreements can be entered into, as it is wholly beneficial to the Western Cape. We would like to see even more of these partnerships in the future.

We believe they are central to our plans to radically accelerate human settlement delivery, while promoting social inclusion through the development of integrated, resilient, safe and sustainable human settlements in an open opportunity society.

As the Western Cape Government, we remain committed to working with all spheres of government and relevant stakeholders, as together we are able to ensure that the lives of more people are improved.

Media Enquiries:
Marcellino Martin
Spokesperson for Minister Tertuis Simmers
Marcellino.martin@westerncape.gov.za
021 483 3397 (o)
082 721 3362 (m)

or

Nathan Adriaanse
Director Communication & Stakeholder Relations
Tell: 021 483 2868
Mobile: 083 2631720
Email: Nathan.Adriaanse@westerncape.gov.za