By Lebone Rodah Mosima
The portfolio committee on human settlements has “expressed serious concern” over the hazardous state of housing in the North West Province, after learning that about 1 000 RDP homes in the Moretele Local Municipality are still roofed with asbestos.
“The health risks are too high for the asbestos not to be completely eradicated. The department must present a detailed medium-term plan to remove these hazardous roofs,” committee chairperson Nocks Seabi said in a statement.
Asbestos roofing in older South African housing stock has long been flagged by health-experts for its link to respiratory illnesses and potential mesothelioma (cancer). Within the housing-delivery framework of the country, remediation of asbestos has been identified as a complex and expensive challenge.
The committee requested a verification process “and stressed that the removal of asbestos must remain a top priority due to the associated health risks,” Seabi added.
He made the comments after the committee’s recent oversight visit to the municipality.
He also sounded the alarm over persistent delays in paying contractors by the province’s department of local government and human settlements, which had led to stalled housing projects.
“These delays, which reportedly extend beyond 100 days in some instances, are severely undermining service delivery and threatening the survival of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the province,” he said.
“The payment of service providers within 30 days of receipt of invoices should be sacrosanct in government and departments that undermine this principle must be held accountable.”
Seabi said the committee had called for tighter oversight and stronger project management to keep housing developments on schedule and within budget. He cautioned the department against overcommitting amid shrinking financial resources.
A “realistic” plan was needed to revive stalled projects, he said.
The North West human settlements department has previously acknowledged the problem of delays and poor performance of contractors.
In a 2023 statement, the department said it had terminated about 15 developers “who were found to be incompetent or charged with poor performance”.
During the same year, the department said it was experiencing “serious challenges” with blocked projects, some of them dating as far back as 2006.
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