Durban — The KwaDukuza Municipality (KDM) will administer its own housing programmes through the human settlements implementation protocol policy framework.
The KDM is one of seven municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal to have been accorded this status, during a signing ceremony which took place at eMpangeni in the uMhlathuze Municipality recently.
Mayor Lindile Nhaca officiated at the delegation of authority agreement on behalf of the municipality, retaining the municipality’s accreditation status as a level 2: a high-capacity municipality that is able to perform functions which are within the competency of the Department of Human Settlements.
Nhaca said out of three categories, the municipality maintained a level 2 accreditation of the implementation protocol, which entails the devolution of programme management, administration, including the delegation of project evaluation, approval for all national and provincial housing programmes, and leads up to the construction of houses.
With the wider responsibilities delegated upon accreditation, municipalities will be incurring higher operational costs that the provincial department will be funding.
The KZN MEC for Human Settlements, Dr Ntuthuko Mahlaba, granted certain municipalities in the province the decision-making authority to accelerate the packaging of human settlements projects and ensure efficiency in the turnaround time on project delivery. These were eThekwini, KwaDukuza, uMhlathuze, Newcastle, Alfred Duma, Ray Nkonyeni and uMsunduzi municipalities.
The delegation of authority can be withdrawn from the accredited municipalities based on poor performance.
KwaDukuza has therefore retained its status in terms of the accreditation framework, based on performance and capacity over the past 10 years.
Mahlaba said the accreditation does not only mean that KwaDukuza is able to deliver housing projects with minimal supervision and support from the province, but is also an indicator of good performance on housing delivery.
“The Housing Act stipulates that the national and provincial government departments have the mandate to carry out all housing programmes and projects at local levels,” Mahlaba said.
The Implementation Protocol was established to eliminate red tape and eradicate backlogs in the delivery of housing projects within the human settlements value chain, Mahlaba added.
Nhaca said they have been entrusted with a huge responsibility. Nhaca stated that level 1 focuses on the planning of projects involving subsidy budgetary planning across programmes and projects. It also entails subsidy or funds allocation and project identifications.
Level 2 accreditation leads up to the construction of houses, she added. It entails programme management and administration, including the delegation of project evaluation and approval for all national and provincial department of human settlements housing programmes, she added.
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