The Bojanala District’s municipalities have agreed to collaborate closely with the Department of Human Settlements to put the department’s regulations for the industry into effect.
The municipalities agreed to implement the department’s policies during a workshop that the North West Department of Human Settlements held for the district’s municipal officials.
During a workshop recently held in Rustenburg, the department’s Director of Research and Policy Development, Hildegarde du Plessis, stated that municipal officials raised serious concerns, including ongoing difficulties in accessing human settlements programs in their respective municipalities.
However, the officials claimed that by learning about policy through the workshop, they now feel more empowered and ready to put these policies into practice to guarantee service delivery.
“Officials informed the department that a major challenge they faced was that the majority of beneficiaries were returned due to a lack of information,” They claimed that such policies enable them to collaborate closely with the department and expressed the hope that their implementation at the municipal level would significantly improve,” said Du Plessis.
The municipalities render Human Settlements services, including applications for low-cost houses, rental housing tribunal services, identification of informal settlements, and identification of disaster services.
They also render services, including referral to different government departments, and provision of services like water and electricity to the newly established settlements, amongst others.
Du Plessis said the workshops will ensure that both the department and municipalities work towards one goal and have common understanding of human settlement programmes.
“It is against this background that we introduce municipal officials to our policies.
This will ensure integrated service delivery and to further ensure that information is properly disseminated to communities.
“We believe that such programmes are very vital to municipalities as they are at a services delivery level.
The process is more empowering and is more pivotal to communities, as it entails their rights,” Du Plessis said.