The chairperson of the Institute of Human Settlement Practitioners (IHSP), Prof. Sijekula Mbanga, was speaking at an International Housing and Human Settlements Seminar held at a Bloemfontein lodge in the Free State on Thursday 24 November 2022. 

He said working together with Members of Parliament (MPs), Members of Provincial Legislatures (MPLs), and councillors might help the institution to address issues of human settlements without speaking over one another.

OFM News has on several occasions reported about various pressure groups in the Bloemfontein-based Mangaung Metro Municipality and the Free State who voiced their concerns about thousands of residents who continue to live in poor conditions.

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Mbanga said one of the key aspects of the housing and human settlements delivery process is professional ethics, including appropriate behaviour when delivering social services.

“We say it is important for them [members who will be joining] and everybody else to understand that the issues of fraud and corruption in the housing delivery process - while they are looked at as issues of law and law enforcement - are equally issues of the reformation of character. We must ensure that members of the professional association embrace values that will lead to them being entrusted by society to carry the responsibility of providing homes and shelter to the needy in the country. We say it’s not a function of only the law, it is also the function of resocialisation of the practitioners who are in the system,” Mbanga adds.

In October 2022, the provincial Department of Cooperative Governance, Traditional Affairs (Cogta) and Human Settlements said the Hawks have been roped in to probe the Hillside View housing beneficiary list saga in Bloemfontein.

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It is suspected that corrupt officials from the department are allegedly colluding with municipal officials to manipulate the Hillside View housing beneficiary list.

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According to the departmental spokesperson, Sello Dithebe, two cases have already been handed over to the Free State Hawks, with supporting evidence linking certain officials, and arrests are expected to be made soon. The officials are also said to have collected rent illegally from people who are not even beneficiaries.

“In one or two other instances, the matter is with the Hawks and with us handing in evidence to the police. We should expect an arrest to be made soon but that is the matter for the police because our criminal justice system is one in which evidence beyond a reasonable doubt is needed in order to determine if the suspect is guilty or not,” Dithebe added.

The two-day event held in Bloemfontein is aimed at strategic resource mobilisation and membership drive.

Various women leading different organisations dealing with housing issues, virtually delivered messages of goodwill.

They include the President of the Chartered Institute of Housing, United Kingdom (UK), Lara Oyedele, President of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials, United State of America (USA), Patricia Wells, the Chairperson of USA/Africa Collaboration, Elizabeth Glenn Scott, and the President of the South African Institute of Architects, Prof. Amira Osman.

Scott raised the importance of women being involved in the solutions facing the human settlements sector. She told women at the gathering that if there is no table for them during the discussions they might take it upon themselves and bring a table to sit in the discussions.

OFM News