The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Northern Cape urges Premier Zamani Saul to get provincial housing projects in order and to ensure real development of local contractors without compromising housing goals.
In reply to my question during Thursday’s sitting of the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature, the premier acknowledged that the province can’t live up to the original promises made in the R1 billion housing project. When president Cyril Ramaphosa launched this project in January 2024, the Northern Cape was guaranteed 4 000 houses within twelve to eighteen months. The premier now admitted that the Northern Cape Department of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements & Traditional Affairs already had to ask the Development Bank of South Africa for an extension of at least six months.
The extension request is an all-too-familiar reminder of the infrastructure projects that are seldom finished on time or within budget when this government is involved, such as the seemingly abandoned Williston housing project. After the premier promised in February 2023 that 50 of the planned 150 houses would be ready for beneficiaries by November 2023, there’s still only five unfinished houses without roofs and one foundation.
While the premier is quick to blame local contractors for lacking the capacity needed to fulfil the contractual terms set by COGHSTA, he is slow to accept that the provincial government makes it impossible for local companies to succeed. Local SMMEs are denied the opportunity to gain the experience necessary to grow and expand their businesses, despite the presidential promise that local businesses would benefit from the R1 billion housing project.
I’ve written to the premier to request more detail on strategies that will be used to ensure that local contractor development takes place without compromising the quality and speed of the housing project. Terminating contractors without implementing real contractor development will not benefit the provincial economy in the medium or long term.
I’ve also requested reports on the province’s discussion with DBSA and to probe the financial implications of the past sixteen months’ worth of delays. When the province was given permission in December 2023 to borrow R600 million from the DBSA for housing, the premier told a Legislature sitting that interest costs are estimated at R92 million.
We cannot afford further escalations in the cost or time delays of this critical project.