Pretoria - Two underperforming provinces will lose R463 million in low-cost housing grants, which will be redistributed to provinces that met their targets, Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale announced on Tuesday.
A total of R263 million in Human Settlements grant funding will be moved from Free State and R200 million from KwaZulu-Natal. The money will be reassigned to Northern Cape and Limpopo - provinces that have achieved their delivery targets and need additional funding.
The Northern Cape will use R182 million for the construction of 2 070 new houses across the province, as well as the upgrading of 350 units in informal settlements. Some money will also be set aside for the integrated residential developments.
Limpopo, meanwhile, will use R131 million for the construction of 5 300 houses in 17 districts as part of the province's Rural Housing Programme.
The remaining R150 million will go to the National Rectification Programme, which mainly repairs badly-built houses in various provinces.
"Two provinces which were earlier in the group of four under-performers - Western Cape and Eastern Cape - remain on my watch-list and their performance will be closely monitored," Sexwale said.
The minister said it was important to note that the R463 million would remain in the housing delivery process.
The money would be utilised to address the housing delivery backlog and the needs of the poor instead of being rolled over or returned to National Treasury, he added.
