Western Cape Infrastructure MEC Tertuis Simmers says they want reasons why their housing budget was cut.
Image: African News Agency (ANA)
THE National Department of Human Settlements has refuted claims that the Western Cape Infrastructure Department was in the dark about the reasons why funding was redirected, citing a meeting between the parties just last week.
This comes after Infrastructure MEC Tertuis Simmers wanted reasons for the decision to cut R300 million from the Western Cape’s grant allocation of R1.987 billion for human settlements in the 2024/55 financial year.
“Following the National Department of Human Settlement’s (NDHS) decision to cut R300 million from the Western Cape’s grant allocation of R1.987 billion for human settlements in the 2024/55 financial year and in the baseline over the MTEF, the Western Cape Department of Infrastructure (DOI) has written to the NDHS requesting that they provide the documentation that was used to inform their decision.
“It is critical that the National Department of Human Settlements engages with us and shows us how they came to this decision. We have to come to a resolution, because there is simply too much at stake for housing beneficiaries in this province. This R300 million budget cut puts current projects and hundreds of housing opportunities in the Western Cape at risk,” said Simmers.
According to the provincial department, they submitted their adjusted 2024/25 business plan in September 2024, “confirming that the department was on track to spend the full R1.987 billion human settlements grant allocation”.
They said the national department of Human Settlements approved this business plan in January 2025 but issued a R300 million budget cut under the Division of Revenue Act on March 3, “leaving the DOI unable to process over R179 million in existing payments for projects currently underway”.
Affected projects include the Gugulethu Infill, Macassar, Edward Street, and Forest Village in the City of Cape Town. Projects in Hessequa, Knysna, Oudtshoorn, Matzikama and Saldanha Bay would also be affected, the provincial government said.
However when approached for comment on the matter, spokesperson for Human Settlements Minister Thembi Simelane, Tsekiso Machike said the minister had a meeting with all MEC’s including Simmers, “to discuss issues of the sector and performance”.
“The province of the Western Cape was represented by the MEC for Infrastructure, Tertius Simmers and the National Department of Human Settlements gave an extensive and detailed explanation on this subject matter, and I am certain that the province and the City are in a position to answer why there was reallocation,” said Machike.
When asked for a response to the department’s comments, Simmers’ office would only say: “There has been no detailed explanation given as yet, and that is why we requested, in writing, that the Department provide us with the evidence they used to come to the decision of cutting the Western Cape’s human settlements budget – a decision that has now left hundreds of units unfinished and beneficiaries without the homes they have long been waiting for.”
The Cape Times recently reported that several provinces including Gauteng, Western Cape, Limpopo and the Free State were set to lose hundreds of millions of Rands allocated by the National Treasury to build houses, upgrade informal settlements and improve education infrastructure due to non-expenditure.
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said the decisions followed a revised allocation by the National Department of Human Settlements. For the HSDG, the Department of Human Settlements has reallocated R250m to Mpumalanga, R200m to Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal will receive R100m.
The IUSPG reallocation will go to the North West (R150m), and the Eastern Cape and the Free State will share R50m each. KwaZulu-Natal has been reallocated almost R138m in the EIG while the Free State will receive R50m, according to Godongwana.
Cape Times