No housing projects have been delayed in the past year due to fund mismanagement – Minister

“No housing projects were delayed in the past financial year as a direct result of mismanagement of funds.”

These were the words of Human Settlements Minister Thembi Simelane in response to questions posed to her by Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) MP, Lorato Tito-Duba.

Human Settlements departments in South Africa are government entities responsible for housing, urban development, and related services, aiming to address historical spatial inequalities and provide affordable housing.

However, significant financial losses have been recorded through mismanagement, fraudulent procurement, and other unethical practices, which have impacted public trust and service delivery.

In the previous financial year, the Department of Human Settlements (DHS) was allocated a total budget of just under R35 billion.

This budget was broken down as:

• R1.7 billion transferred to human settlements entities.
• R19.2 billion for provincial grants (primarily the HSDG).
• R12.5 billion for municipal grants.
• R520 million for emergency housing response.

Simelane said that reports from the respective provinces “indicate that no housing projects were delayed in the past financial year as a direct result of mismanagement of funds.“

The Minister said that housing projects faced delays because of:

• Procurement issues – delays in appointing contractors or service providers.
• Land challenges – disputes over ownership, zoning, or securing suitable sites.
• Infrastructure shortages – lack of water, sanitation, or electricity to support new developments.
• Community disruptions – protests linked to beneficiary lists, job opportunities, or broader service delivery concerns.
• Capacity limits – planning, budgeting, or project management delays within municipalities or implementing agencies.

Simelane said that, while delays may not stem from fund mismanagement, they still have a serious impact on budgets and delivery targets.

Delays can cause under-expenditure, harm credibility, create delivery backlogs, and increase costs when projects stretch over multiple years, she said.

She added that the Department remains committed to proactive monitoring and working with provinces and municipalities to remove bottlenecks, speed up projects, and deliver projects.

Not everyone is buying it

Tito-Duba told Newsday that to say that there were no delays to housing projects as a result of fund mismangement is a fabrication.

She said that the lack of concrete deliverables, provincial audits, and recent Presidential proclamations tell a different story.

In June, President Cyril Ramaphosa authorised the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to probe alleged maladministration in the Housing Development Agency (HDA) and all provincial Human Settlements departments.

Recently, The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) found the North West Department of Human Settlements violated the right to adequate housing, citing over 5,500 incomplete RDP houses.

The Commission also blamed the provincial Treasury and Office of the Premier for failing to hold the department accountable.

Since 2011, 457 complaints in the province have been lodged, including the case of a 70-year-old woman in Tsetse village who has waited for a house promised to her since 1995.

On top of this, the SAHRC’s Mpumalanga office recently issued a subpoena against the Mpumalanga Department of Human Settlements for failing to address complaints about RDP housing and asbestos roofs, violating residents’ rights to adequate, safe housing.

BusinessTech has reported on several abandoned human settlements across Gauteng.

Although not all are implemented by human settlements departments, but rather by the city, the national and provincial department still allocated large amounts of funding to these white elephants.

For example, nearly a decade after being announced, the Daggafontein Mega City in Springs, meant to deliver 18,000 housing units by 2023, remains without a single home built, despite over R313 million spent.

While some internal infrastructure exists, delays, funding issues, and contractor setbacks have stalled progress, with the project’s first phase now pushed to 2029/2030.

Much of the finding came from the Human Settlement Development Grant (HSDG), funded by the national government and allocated to provincial departments of human settlements.

Another project is the a R371 million housing mega-project in Tembisa, Ekurhuleni, which promised to deliver 3,510 units for Winnie Mandela informal settlement residents, now stands abandoned.

Despite initial progress and plans for phased completion by 2024, the site, once hailed as transformative, has been stripped bare, with construction halted and buildings left incomplete.

Following the article being published, the Minister and Provincial MEC of Human Settlements had a “site unblocking visit” promising to restart stalled projects.

“The department is prioritising mega projects, such as the Tembisa Ext 25 Mega Housing Project in Ekurhuleni, to address blocked projects and scale up delivery,” said Simelane.