Johannesburg - The government has vowed to digitise the allocation of houses and to reduce the number of people on the housing waiting list.
This was said by the Social Cluster Ministers, co-chaired by Health Minister Joe Phaahla and Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga, during a media briefing in Pretoria on Thursday
Phaahla said the government was sharpening its focus on their main priorities for the transformation of human settlements into liveable and sustainable spaces through spatial targeting and consolidating investment.
“We are doing so by re-prioritising the programmes to focus on upgrading of informal settlements, integrated residential development, and a significant increase in the affordable- rental housing stock.
“One of the most important pillars of this government is transparency.
“In order to restore the confidence of its constituency, the Department of Human Settlements will digitise the allocation of houses so that everyone is able to know what their status is at any time.
“This will be done through a digital system that is accessible to all, that will eliminate corrupt activities in (the) allocation of housing opportunity,” he said.
He said the department would accelerate the issuing of titles deeds throughout the country as a way of restoring dignity to South Africans.
Phaahla also announced that the government was working on plans to implement new health regulations to replace the National State of disaster
He said the government had noted continued calls to end the National State of Disaster; however there was a need to ensure there were enough measures in place to handle future Covid-19 variants and waves.
“Thus, the national Department of Health has started the process of amending the health regulations in terms of the National Health Act of 2003 in order to address Covid-19 and other notifiable medical conditions outside the National State of Disaster.
“The basis of these amendments is the current National State of Disaster Regulations and the health directives. The following are the set of regulations that are being amended: regulations relating to the surveillance and the control of notifiable medical conditions; regulations relating to public health measures in points of entry; regulations relating to the management of human remains; and regulations relating to environmental health,” Phaahla said.
He said the draft regulations would be published for public comment this week in terms of section 90 (4) (a) of the National Health Act of 2003.
All four draft regulations are handled as a set because they complement each other.
Political Bureau