Bathabile Dlamini, head of the ANC Women’s League and former minister, has been appointed to head the Social Housing Regulatory Authority interim board.
The Authority is ‘responsible for regulating, capacitating, and investing in the social housing sector’ according to its website. Its focus is on assisting people earning between R1 500 and R10 000 a month.
Dlamini’s appointment has been controversial in light of her record as Minister of Social Development, in which capacity she bore political responsibility for the government’s social grants system.
Last year, the Constitutional Court said that Dlamini’s conduct had been ‘reckless and grossly negligent’ in relation to the payment of social grants. She was ordered to pay 20% of the legal costs awarded to a pair of non-governmental organisations in her personal capacity. The court also directed the National Prosecuting Authority to look into whether she should face charges of perjury.
A spokesperson for Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu – under whose authority the Social Housing Regulatory Authority rests – defended the appointment: ‘Social housing has to be regulated so that it is not cheated so it does not lose money unnecessarily. We think that she is a person that can help us with solving the social housing issues in the country, given her background in social development.’