4 News Networks reflect Gov habitat failure

1. 'Government's to blame for high house prices' The government, not foreign ownership, is to blame for South Africa's soaring house prices, say industry specialists, after President Thabo Mbeki announced the state would regulate foreign ownership of property this year.
   
2. Slow delivery due to lack of skills In an interview last night with the SABC, President Mbeki said the lack of skills was the actual cause of slow delivery in the municipalities.Mbeki also said that the housing department is expected to reach a final agreement on the modalities for utilising the R42 billion set aside by the financial institutions for housing developments for poor and middle-income groups.
   
3. Mbeki's speech 'overlooked key challenges' The land issue had been "thrown out like a curved ball", whereas the real problems were issues like the failures in local government. The suggestion was that "we're going to plough more money into the same failed policies", whereas fundamental change was needed, Leon said. "Cadres have been brought in who have no experience, who were rewarded for their party loyalty, not for their professional competence,"
   
4. Councils spurn community workers Two-thirds of the government’s community development workers -- the grassroots civil servants deployed by President Thabo Mbeki to boost local government services -- have failed to find jobs in municipalities in the Western Cape.