The Department is located in the Office of the CEO and is responsible for strategic planning, performance management, stakeholder relations as well as communications and marketing. Furthermore the Department coordinates the corporate support services cluster which is comprised of the Corporate Support, Finance and Spatial Information and Analysis departments.
These functions are undertaken by three units namely;
The Organisational Performance Management Unit of the HDA is tasked with Managing and Co-ordinating organisation wide efforts to inculcate a culture of performance management within the organisation. The unit develops standards, guidelines, procedures and policies all aimed at managing the organizational performance environment as well as ensuring alignment to the Government wide framework for managing programme performance information. This is undertaken through:
In addition, the unit is expected to develop and maintain relationships with internal and external stakeholder within the planning, reporting and performance management areas of business.
The Communications and Marketing Unit exists to provide strategic corporate communications to the HDA to ensure that the Agency communicates with all its stakeholders using various forms and means of communication. Furthermore the unit undertakes marketing of the HDA and the services it provides as the government developer. This is undertaken through the following;
The work of the unit is underpinned by the co-ordination done through the Stakeholder and Intergovernmental Relations Unit in support of the HDA core business units.
The Stakeholder and Intergovernmental Relations unit manages the interface between the Agency and its public and private stakeholders. It fosters collaboration and alignment with a view to ensuring that stakeholders are supported in the development of human settlements.
The department achieves these objectives through:
Corporate Support Business Unit provides the Agency with support services to enable the core business units to operate as a professional Government Developer. Corporate Support endeavours to deliver a service that is of quality, efficient, effective and professional and in alignment with the HDA Strategy and values.
The Corporate Support Business Unit includes the following departments:
The HR department continues to drive, facilitate and support the Agency with its human capital requirements. In order to ensure compliance with legislation and HR best practice, the HR Department ensures that the HR Policy and Procedures Manual as well as Standard Operating Procedures Manual are implemented effectively.
HR’s core function includes:
In line with the current HDA strategic plan, IT focuses on improving and enhancing the IT environment, achieving a stable, innovative and responsive technology platform and environment. The current focus in IT is the automation of certain systems and processes which is crucial to HDA’s efficiency. The IT policy ensures governance is in place and is able to give the Board assurance.
The Legal Services Department is primarily responsible for providing quality corporate legal advice to the Agency on various legal issues which include:
The Facilities Business Unit ensures that the Agency has the most suitable working environment for its employees/visitors and their activities.
The business unit is responsible for:
The DMO is the command centre of the Agency that provides overall operational co-ordination to the various core programmes of the Agency namely; Built Environment, National Programme Design and Management, Strategic Initiatives and Regions. It is also responsible for the management of the Technical Resource Centre of the Agency.
The Strategic Initiatives unit seeks to;
The NPD&M provides implementation support and improved capacity on the delivery of the national priority projects as identified by the National Department of Human Settlements (NDHS). The NPD&M develops plans and manages the implementation of those plans in line with the overall HDA strategy and national human settlements priorities. To this end the following national priority programmes are managed by NPD&M:
The Informal Settlements Upgrading Programme (ISUP) is a NDHS programme that seeks to upgrade the living conditions of people where they are settled. This Programme is aimed at the in situ upgrading of informal settlements utilising existing land and infrastructure to provide secure tenure and access to basic services as well as formal housing and related amenities where possible. In circumstances where the land is not suitable for human habitation, residents may be relocated and settled elsewhere. Beneficiary communities are involved throughout the project cycle to bring about social cohesion and stability.
The National Urban Settlements Programme (NUSP) is designed to provide technical and capacity support to provinces and municipalities across the country for the implementation of the informal settlement upgrading in an incremental manner incorporating other housing programmes.
In line with the National Development Plan the Catalytic Projects Programme aims to develop high impact integrated and sustainable human settlements in well located land that promotes spatial targeting, social and economic integration and delivery at scale using different tenure options.
Revitalisation of the Distressed Mining Towns intervention was initiated to transform mining towns through the creation of sustainable human settlements. This will improve the socio-economic conditions of mine communities and labour sending areas and provide decent living conditions for mine workers. HDA would develop human settlements spatial transformation plans in order to align government planning and delivery processes and inform future developments in the mining towns and labour sending areas.
Government Employee Housing Scheme (GEHS) offers sustainable housing solutions to government employees and increase home-ownership among them.
The Built Environment business unit is primarily responsible for supporting the various programmes within the HDA, provinces and municipalities by identifying, acquiring, holding, packaging and developing land for human settlement development. Thus the business unit is responsible for a number of major activities within the human settlement development value chain.
The division comprises the following units:-
This unit is responsible for amongst others:-
The land acquisition unit is responsible for the facilitation of all acquisition and release of both Private and Public land required by the HDA, Provinces and/or Municipalities for human settlements development. To ensure that the land is suitable for development, the function includes identification and prioritisation of land for acquisition to the actual land acquisition and release and/or transfer of the land to stakeholders or qualifying beneficiaries. Some of its responsibilities include:-
In terms of Section 5(1) of the HDA’s Act, the Agency is able to hold acquired land prior to release for human settlements development. As and when the properties held by the Agency are not yet programmed for human settlements development or properties that are under development, such properties may be subjected to short-, medium- and long-term holding agreements.
The purpose of the land holding unit is to position the holding and management properties in a way that the service meets the mandate of the holding function as prescribed in the HDA Act, but more importantly, to ensure that the Agency does it in a manner that espouses best practice, and in doing so, adds value to the customer in meeting its human settlement development outcomes. Some of the sub-unit’s responsibilities include:-
This subunit is responsible for:-
The Spatial Information and Analysis (SIA) function mostly focus on, and comprises of providing anlalysed information from data and research services, supported by technical specialists. The intention is to build partnerships, a knowledge base and monitor and evaluate the performance of the human settlement sector in achieving key national strategic priorities through:
Region A Programme comprises of the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Northern Cape, this constituting the Cape cluster. The strategic objective of this programme is to enhance capacity and render human settlements projects implementation services to provinces and municipalities. The Programme focuses on the following thrusts, namely:
The Western and Eastern Cape Programmes have been in the vanguard in the human settlements delivery – provision of housing and serviced sites. In a similar feat, the Northern Cape is now moving towards delivery phase within the human settlements value chain, having been predominantly active in planning and land assembly.
The mandate in the Western Cape is underpinned by an MOA signed with the Western Cape Department of Human Settlements with the key imperative of providing project management services for the N2 Gateway Project. The work in the Eastern Cape in undergirded by an Implementation Protocol signed with the relevant spheres of government (National Department of Human Settlements, Provincial Department of Human Settlements, Nelson Mandela Bay Metro. The protocol provides that the Agency shall serve as the IA for housing delivery in the Metro until March 2019. For fostering the Northern Cape Programme, the Agency signed a Medium Term Operational Plan (MTOP) with the Provincial Department of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements And Traditional Affairs (COGHSTA) that spans until March 2019.
Region B comprises the following provinces: Limpopo, Gauteng and North West Provinces. The overall purpose of the programme is to coordinate the operations of the HDA in the responsible Provinces. The strategic objective of the functional area is to enhance capacity, support and technical skills of the provinces and Municipalities for human settlement development purposes. The Agency has to date concluded the required Protocols in accordance with the Intergovernmental Framework with the responsible Provinces in support of the wok of the HDA in the Provinces.
The work of the HDA in the Limpopo province includes land assembly, projects pipelining, land preparation, project implementation and provincial human settlements programme coordination. The Province has assigned to the Agency the responsibility to implement the following human settlements programmes:
The work of the Agency in the Province is mainly human settlements implementation support for construction of services and also housing units. The Agency has been assigned the implementation role by both provincial human settlements department and Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM). The assigned role in EMM relates to the roll out of the services (water, sanitation, roads and stormwater) programme funded from the Urban Settlement Development Grant Funding (USDG).
The region is currently undertaking projects in the following areas;
The region also provides support to the province in the area of land assembly and land preparation. The Agency has over the last four years assisted the province to acquire both private and state owned land totalling 6999 hectares. The Region is currently assisting the province with the preparation and packaging of the acquired properties for development. Some of the acquired properties are located within the Marikana precinct to address housing needs of the Marikana community as part of the Mining Towns programme.
Region C consists of Free State, KwaZulu Natal and Mpumalanga provinces. The HDA has office established in Free State and KwaZulu Natal and will establish offices in Mpumalanga in early 2017.
The Region has been performing several activities for the provinces, which include amongst others, the following:
The Free State HDA office has been instrumental in the establishment of sustainable strategies towards the eradication of informal settlements in the province. To date, most the efforts of the office have been centred around the informal settlements upgrading projects and creating a project pipeline that has been adopted by the provincial department for their planning purposes.
The HDA has provided the following interventions in Free State in relation to the Implementation of the Informal Settlements Upgrading Programme:
Informal settlements upgrading support is provided together with support from the National Department of Human Settlements, NUSP (National Upgrading Support Programme) Team. The NUSP technical support covers the following areas:
The NUSP intervention was provided in the following Municipalities and Cities/Towns in Free State:
Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality: Bloemfontein, Botshabelo, Dewetsdorp, Mangaung, Thaba Nchu, Van Stadensrus, Wepener
Matjhabeng Local Municipality: Allanridge, Hennenman, Odendaalsrus, Ventersburg, Virginia, Welkom
Metsimaholo Local Municipality: Deneysville, Kragbron, Oranjeville, Sasolburg
Dihlabeng Local Municipality: Bethlehem, Clarens, Fouriesburg, Golden Gate Highlands National Park, Paul Roux, Rosendal
Maluti-a-Phofung Local
Municipality: Harrismith, Kestell, Phuthaditjhaba
Moqhaka Local Municipality: Kroonstad, Renovaal, Steynsrus, Vierfontein, Viljoenskroo
