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Human Settlements MEC Helen Sauls-August says the mushrooming of informal settlements, particularly in the urban areas “ remains a concern”.
Presenting her Policy Speech, the MEC sais she wished to encourage munici-palities “to use the law to control this challenge that compromises our plans to establish neighbourhoods”.
She said the department remained committed “to resource the upgrading of informal settlements”.
However, she added that she wished to appeal to communities that “we do not want to see shacks in areas where we agreed that development will take place”.
Sauls-August said she wanted to urge municipalities to implement their by-laws and protect open spaces in their municipalities.
The MEC also announced that mecha-nisms had been set up to “mitigate any fraudulent practices in our tender processes.
“We have a zero tolerance approach and internal controls allow early detection of any violations of our system.”
She added that the department internally had set up disciplinary processes for both senior and operational employees who were currently on suspension for alleged fraud.
She said the department would continue to roll out the Beneficiary Correct Occupation campaign.
This, she added, would assist munici-palities in ensuring houses were occupied by rightful owners.
