BETRAYAL OF A POST-COLONIAL IDEAL: THE EFFECT OF CORRUPTION ON PROVISION OF LOW-INCOME HOUSES IN SOUTH AFRICA

Year 2019, Volume: 11 Issue: 1, 139 - 176, 01.01.2019

Witness Maluleke Siyanda Dlamini William Moyahabo Rakololo

Abstract

Lack of proper allocation of houses by the National Department of
Human Settlements (NDHS) in all spheres of government has created
a huge backlog on the provision of houses, despite the proclamation
of Section 26 of the Constitution of Republic of South Africa (1996),
Housing Act (No. 107 of 1997) and National Norms and Standards
(1997). The living standard of the people who should be receiving
these houses is detrimentally affected by this situation. The inception
of the Special Investigations Directorate (SID) in the NDHS saw the
necessity to investigate cases of this nature. The objectives of this
study were to access appropriate management, capacity, challenges
and technical support for the allocation of low-income houses,
focusing on 20 years of democracy timeline (1994-2014), as well as,
evaluating the implementation of support programmes that prevent
corruption in the human settlements sector as agreed with sector
partners (provinces and municipalities) in line with the national
sector-wide Anti-Corruption Strategy by paying attention to State response to apartheid regime to democratic programmes. A
qualitative research approach was adopted, coupled with the
attendance of five (05) – to ten (10) NDHS SID meetings and
workshops, ten (10) months participant observation schedule and
three (03) interviews (i.e. Two -02- Key Informant Interviews – KIIs
and one -01- telephonic interview) with the Assistant Directors of SID
in the NDHS in Pretoria.
The findings of this study reveal that 1) corruption with the allocation
of low-income houses is still rife across South Africa, 2) fixing the
current application and allocation processes can play a pivotal role in
this regard and 3) the elite individuals in government should
consolidate ideas in response to this scourge. It can be concluded that
perceptions on the effects of corruption involving constructing of
low-income houses in South African housing are widespread, coupled
by complexity, exploitation, fraud and unpredictability. Owing to this,
public trust to the current government remains dented. For
recommendations; the NDHS should create improvement
interventions through a process involving the implementation of the
recommendations meted out by the NDHS SID investigators, evaluate
the application and allocation processes by all relevant stakeholders
within the public sector to enhance social and economic development;
and address poverty by refusing to participate in illegal activities. 

Keywords

Corruption, Finance Linked Individual Subsidy Projects (FLISP), Investigations, Low-income housing, NDHS, Provision, Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) housing, South Africa, SID

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