Human Settlements continue to push for accreditation of municipalities
The department of Human Settlements in the North West, continued its venture to workshop councillors from Taung local municipalities on municipal accreditation programme in Taung on Tuesday. The programme seeks to ensure that the process of accrediting municipalities is well understood by local councillors.
The Taung local municipality is at pre-accreditation assessment. At accreditation level one, it means it’s capable of administering beneficiary register and also administer Housing Subsidy System. The programmes was mainly to equip councillors with information to ensure that they understand the departmental programmes as they are close to their communities. The department further took the opportunity to further induct to councillors and other officials in attendance about other departmental programmes.
According to the Director of planning and stakeholder management and Capacity development Dr Ben Bole, the department is determined to equip municipalities with information to ensure that they are on the same wave length. “We can’t do it alone, we need municipalities and everybody in the human settlements sector to work in a more integrated process, as we are guided by the district development model. The department and you as community leaders, have responsibilities, to ensure that services are rendered within respective communities. It is therefore pivotal to ensure that we both have a clear understanding of each other’s roles and responsibilities. We need to be in the same band wagon,” said Dr Bole.
The department further outlined list of services worth millions of rands, to councillors in attendance. The services range from housing delivery, eradication of mud houses and asbestos roofs, title deed restoration programme, services of Rental Housing Tribunal, military veterans houses and many others. The department has further acknowledged that it has backlogs in the province in delivering services. The department also took the opportunity to outline some of the Human Settlements Minister’s priority programme of eradicating mud houses as they are prone to recent reoccurring disasters and Asbestos roofs among others. However the process can only be implemented after the adjustment budget has been approved.
The director for municipal accreditation at the national department of human settlements Miyelane Ntlemo encouraged councillors to make sure that they understand the challenges within their areas, as it’s their responsibility to refer such to local municipalities and the departments. “Municipalities are key to housing delivery and its only municipalities that understand housing needs in their locality. It is the responsibility of the department to ensure that municipalities are accredited and capacitated. That will ensure that the whole process done to ensure coordination as directed by the district development model”, said Ntlemo.
Local councillors acknowledging the session, where majority of them, welcomed the presentations, and further took advantage of the session to raise many human settlements issues they experience in their locality. Currently the department is in the process of building 342 houses in the Taung Local Municipality. The councillors were further tasked to provide the department with detailed report on mud houses and asbestos roofs.
The department is planning to take such sessions to other municipalities to make sure that all councillors understand departmental programmes and its processes.
Source: Government of South Africa