Sexwale and shoddy houses  - Paddy Hartdegen

The following excellent article was penned by Paddy Hartdegen for Property24.com. It focuses on the contentious issue of low cost housing that has received much media attention of late. He also expresses strong opinions with regard to the future of the NHBRC. We thank both Paddy and Property24.com for granting us permission to republish it.

About a year ago, I wrote a highly critical column about Lindiwe Sisulu's abominable management of the Housing Department.

Among other things, I alleged that she, as the Minister of Housing, was ultimately responsible for the poor quality of houses being built, the widespread corruption in that sector and continued, shameful squandering of taxpayers' money.

The Department of Housing responded to my allegations by accusing me of bias, misrepresentation and racism (us critical white okes always get accused of being racists).

Last week, Sisulu's chickens came home to roost, as Tokyo Sexwale, who replaced Sisulu in a Ministry now called the Department of Human Settlements, roasted shoddy building contractors at a press briefing in Pretoria.

He estimated that at least R500m would have to be spent on repairing houses in KwaZulu-Natal alone because these dwellings were unfit for human habitation.

Sexwale apparently read the riot act to many fly-by-night contractors, lawyers, estate agents and crooked civil servants who, he claimed, would be named and shamed.

He was so angry that he said he would sue the contractors who have built sub-standard houses and force others to complete the housing projects that they have abandoned.

Good luck, Mr Sexwale, because you've now joined the real world of the corrupt fly-by-night building industry. You, along with thousands of other South Africans want to sue the builders who have done such poor work that someone else has to fix up their mess or who have just abandoned the job and left you high and dry.

So accept it, Mr Sexwale, there are hundreds of fly-by-night builders operating in South Africa and you can now experience the frustration that we've been going through for years.

Of course, like us, your first step will be to try and contact the builder responsible for doing the work in KwaZulu-Natal (or at any other building site you choose).

If you're lucky enough to speak to the builder, then they will promise you faithfully that they will to immediately investigate the problems and come back to you within a day.

Thousands of South Africans who have done any building work will attest to this. Then, you'll never hear from him again. He'll simply vanish.

If you phone his cell phone number, you'll find the number is not in use. Phone the landline and you'll find it, too, has been disconnected. If you actually go to his home address you'll either find it standing empty or you'll be told a pack of lies by a complicit wife (father, brother or son) that he is "out of the country", is working in the Kalahari desert where there are no phones or some other rubbish.

So, Mr Sexwale, you, like thousands of us, will immediately institute legal proceedings to compel the contractor to do the work or to pay for the work that will have to be done by another contractor. After all, that's what the contract says.

Legal proceedings will follow and you will quickly discover that the builder in question has been sequestrated (his close corporation closed down) and that he has no assets at all. Those around him (his wife, children, mother, father and even his best friend) will have plenty of wonderful assets. You know that they're actually his but you cannot claim them at all.

If you see him, he'll shrug his shoulders and say he's sorry.

So, Mr Sexwale, like many thousands of us, you'll sit with unfinished or badly built homes with no one that can compensate you. Then, you have a bright idea. What about the National Home Builders' Registration Council?

You enrolled your house and they are the body that is there to protect you. So you contact the NHBRC as your "insurer", confident that they will, at the very least, repair the structural defects for you.

Think again, Mr Sexwale. To your astonishment, you discover that the NHBRC wants an occupation certificate from the council. You don't have that occupation certificate because, in your own words, the houses are unfit for human habitation.

The NHBRC tells you that until you get that certificate, they cannot act on your behalf. To complicate matters you find that the contractor might have been registered with the NHBRC, but is no longer registered so they cannot act against him for you either.

Finally the unpleasant reality of your predicament sinks in (we've all had the same horrific experience): Your money is gone, the builder is untouchable or untraceable, the NHBRC refuses to do anything for you and your house is unfinished and uninhabitable.

Like us, you too will probably want to cry, tear your hear out, kick the dog or express your annoyance and impotence in some socially unacceptable way. You don't do so, but you want to.

Consider this, Mr Sexwale. At least you've got access to more money than we have. You can actually fight and rectify the mess that we call shoddy workmanship and fly-by-night builders. You don't have a bond (like we do) you have a war chest of funds at your disposal. Admittedly they're actually our funds, but you've got them.

So, Mr Sexwale, why don't you do something really productive and helpful for the whole housing industry? Here's what I suggest:

• Liquidate the NHBRC (that has a war chest worth billions because it takes enrolment fees and never pays out on a claim). Fire its staff because they are largely expensive, but useless;
• Reclaim the NHBRC's billions and pay back the enrolment fees to the individuals who were forced to register their homes. Give them the money – they need it.
• Privatise the structural warranty scheme, which is conceptually an excellent thing and let proper insurance businesses run the programmes and provide proper protection for homeowners;
• Open a register of licenced building contractors and allow only those individuals or companies to provide building services to the public. Insist that their licence is renewed each year and arrest, fine or jail any builder working without a valid licence;
• Use the established and reputable organisations (such as the Master Builders Associations, The Institute of Architects and the Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors) to licence builders on the basis of competence. Peer reviews are a splendid way of removing fly-by-night cowboys from any industry.

You, Mr Sexwale, have now experienced what we've been experiencing for years. The difference is that you are in a position to change it. You are in a position to give substance and meaning to that Welsh saying that states: "Don't get cross, get even".

Like you, we all want to get even with these cowboy builders.

But, unlike you, we can't make it happen.

So you DO SOMETHING.

*Hartdegen writes a regular column for Property24.com. The content of his columns constitutes his personal opinion and doesn't pretend to be facts or advice.

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