War rooms ‘are ineffective’

BACKLOGS: LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY ‘A CONCERN’

Government has to ‘rethink its approach to the housing crisis’.

The growing housing crisis – which has left over 12 million people in need of housing – is unlikely to see an end to the backlog any time soon, even as Human Settlements Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi yesterday announced members of a newly established national war room.

Political analyst Ralph Mathekga said war rooms in SA have proven to be ineffective, from Eskom to Prasa, as they were just a “tactic for government to say we understand the sense of urgency”.

According to Mathekga, while it may seem that war rooms are coordinated action, they usually involve almost similar ministers from the same departments where the problems arose.

This after Kubayi said the war room would help deal with the blockages and the slow pace of delivery, coordinate efforts, monitor and fast-track the implementation of diverse projects across provinces and coordinate support of various entities and consolidate reporting to the war room.

Democratic Alliance’s Gauteng shadow MEC for human settlements and cooperative governance and traditional affairs Mervyn Cirota said while there was no problem in the department seeking solutions for this crisis, the lack of accountability from the former programmes such as the National Rapid Response Task Team was an major issue.

“So it’s really a question of accountability, who is in charge and there needs to be a timeline and proper implementation,” he said.

However, property law expert Tanveer Jeewa said SA’s estimated national housing backlog was sitting at 2.6 million houses and a war room was very much needed as government had to rethink its approach to the housing crisis.

“The focus of the state has been on providing formal housing through the Reconstruction and Development Programme, but this has not been effective,” she said.

She also said unlawful occupation, if not addressed, will keep increasing.