The Portfolio Committee on Infrastructure, Roads, and Human Settlement will host public hearings in the Free State to get the public’s input for consideration of the Housing Consumer Protection Bill. The hearings are part of the public participation process to provide protection for housing consumers and impact on stakeholders.
The hearings in the five regions in the province will start tomorrow X Tuesday (15/08) until 22 August.
Life Mokone, spokesperson of the Free State Legislature, said input by the public were in passing the bill into law, and strengthening the home-building environment to benefit consumers.
“This will lead to the building of quality homes across the country. Public participation remains a constitutional obligation that the committee takes seriously in adopting its programme including to consider bills. Public participation process will emphasize the need for focused and intensive oversight work on public entities to ensure that they deliver on their mandate and protect the consumers, especially the poor,” said Mokone.
The Housing Consumer Protection Bill seeks to provide a range of aspects for the protection of housing consumers. The bill is aimed at providing for the continuance of the National Home Builders Registration Council as the National Home Building Regulatory Council(NHBRC), to provide for the enrolment of homes in order to be covered by the home warranty fund, to provide for the regulation of the conduct of homebuilders, to provide for the continuance of the home warranty fund, to provide for claims against the fund, to provide for the funds of the council and for the management for those funds, to provide for procurement and contractual matters in relation to the building of a home, to provide for the enforcement of this Act, and to repeal the Housing Consumer Protection Measures Act, 1998.
Public hearings are all set to start at 10:00 at the following venues:
15 August X Matjhabeng Local Municipality, Ferdi Meyer Hall in Welkom;
16 August X Ngwathe Local Municipality, Sandersville Community Hall in Heilbron;
17 August X Maluti a Phofung Local Municipality, Multi-Purpose Center in Qwaqwa;
18 August X Mohokare Local Municipality, George Ranteeya Community Hall in Smithfield; and
22 August X Mangaung Metro Municipality, Barolong Hall in Thaba Nchu.
