Accountability, service delivery and secure property rights the core issues in IRR’s appeal to Human Rights Commission

Accountability, efficient service delivery and secure property rights for all South Africans are the principles on which the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) has approached the South Africa Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) to declare title deed and housing delivery backlogs human rights violations.

In its letter to the SAHRC, the IRR argues that the rights being violated include the right to access to housing as well as the right to dignity. The Institute submits that the government’s constitutional obligation to provide socio-economic rights such as access to housing hinges on considerations that include progressive realisation of the objective, and reasonable measures to achieve it. It argues neither principle has been sufficiently observed in thirty years of democracy, with the backlogs arising from decades of maladministration and malfeasance.

In support of its submission, the IRR cites findings by the SAHRC against similar violations by the North West Department of Housing Settlements (NWDHS). In that case, the SAHRC ruled that the NWDHS had infringed upon beneficiaries’ rights through poor management and planning as well as a lack of accountability when it failed to deliver completed Reconstruction and Development Programme housing within an agreed timeframe.

Says Makone Maja, IRR Strategic Engagements Manager: “A similar ruling against the Department of Human Settlements would assist in compelling the government to act in alleviating these housing issues.

“With this submission, the Institute hopes to invoke the oversight functions of the SAHRC to aid millions of South Africans who have waited decades for their houses to be completed and their title deeds to be granted to them. Nearly 600 qualifying beneficiaries have died without the certainty of tenure, dying before the government granted them their title deeds. This is a gross injustice against some of the country’s most vulnerable citizens, and an injustice that will be inherited by future generations if the government is not held to account.”

Departmental data show that the title deed backlog exceeds 1 million. It also shows that there has been a significant decline in the completion rate of state-subsidised units. The provision of government housing dropped by 85.6% between 1998/99 and 2022/23, while the provision of serviced sites (sites with access to water and sanitation) fell by 78.5% from its peak in 2006/07 to 2022/23. These declines stand in sharp contrast to a housing backlog of some 12 million.

Maja concludes: “Accountability, efficient service delivery and secure property rights for all South Africans are the IRR’s three goals in submitting this proposal to the SAHRC, along with providing the impetus that has been lacking in the government’s efforts to eliminate the backlogs.”

Media contact: Makone Maja, IRR Strategic Engagements Manager Tel: 079 418 6676 Email: makone@irr.org.za

Media enquiries: Michael Morris IRR Head of Media Tel: 066 302 1968 Email: michael@irr.org.za