South Africa: Housing Budget Increases to R28.1 Billion

South African Goverment (Pretoria) May, 22, 2013. allAfrica.com
Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale today tabled a R28.1 billion budget before Parliament saying the 2013/14 financial year allocation signified the government’s determination to eradicate the problem of homelessness in the country.

The 2013/14 budget allocation showed an increase of almost R3 billion when compared to what was given to the human settlements sector in the previous financial allocation. Minister Sexwale told Parliament that the government was committed to providing quality housing and building sustainable human settlements in the country as part of efforts to build a better and more inclusive society than that created under apartheid.

Quoting from the National Development Plan, he said inefficiencies and inequalities in South Africa’s settlement patterns were deeply entrenched and “bold measures are needed to reshape them.”

He added that the 2013/14 budget was important as it contributed to the total economic development of the country.

“Our budget should be seen as a catalyst in this process including job creation through our twin empowerment and construction programmes of Women and Youth Builds.

“Incrementally throughout our term, the budget has been earmarked primarily to address the poorest of the poor. In continuing to do so, let there be no doubt that our quest is not to be patted on the back for chasing numbers at the cost of quality,” he said.