Parliament takes social housing regulator to task over stalled projects
Ten projects with more than 3,800 units still need to be completed
A large stalled social housing project next to the Bridge City shopping center in KwaMashu, north of Durban. The developer was Instratin. Archive photo: Tsoanelo Sefoloko
Stalled social housing projects, which together have more than 3,800 housing units, could take years to complete.
“It will take us a few years to eradicate the entire list,” director-general of the national human settlements department, Alec Moemie, told Parliament on Wednesday.
Out of the 52 projects being managed by the Social Housing Regulatory Authority (SHRA), ten are on hold or blocked. More than 3,870 units still need to be completed, and a further 1,291 have been completed but do not have tenants.
Social housing is rental-only accommodation for people earning between R1,850 and R22,000 a month. Developers receive a once-off grant from the Social Housing Regulatory Authority to subsidise the building costs, but rental amounts must be capped at R7,326 a month.
Financial viability is the main reason the projects have not been finished, Parliament’s portfolio committee on human settlements heard on Wednesday. The SHRA plans to get additional funding and transfer projects to different developers.
Five of the stalled projects were being developed by Instratin, a company that attracted media attention earlier this year amid allegations that social housing projects were not being maintained or secured correctly.
Earlier this year, the SHRA Council resolved to “discontinue support for three social housing projects implemented by the Instratin Group”.
Acting CEO of the SHRA, Lebowa Letsoalo, said Instratin was performing “very well until covid happened. Their own internal capacity became an issue”.
Letsoalo said a “comprehensive review” will be done, and it will be decided which projects “have the potential to achieve successful delivery, provided additional funding is secured”.
SHRA chairperson, Pulane Thobejane, said the new council, which was appointed in January this year, was dealing with a “historical challenge”. “Let us be given a chance to apply our minds,” she asked MPs.
“I don’t see a sense of urgency,” said committee chair Nocks Seabi (ANC). “As a board, you are appointed for three years, and the first year is gone. If that is the attitude, we will never resolve the issue,” he told Thobejane.
He asked the SHRA to return early next year to report on the progress.
Zelna Abader (MK Party) said the presentation revealed a “deeply entrenched structural failure”.
“What stands out is not just a few isolated, stalled developments, but a pattern of systemic dysfunction that repeats across provinces, developers, contractors, and funding partners … It’s our communities that are losing hope.”
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