Dear Housing Minister (whether you're wearing Jimmy Choo shoes or not),

The African National Congress (ANC) has convincingly trounced the opposition in the 2009 elections – even though it did not quite muster the sixty-six-and-two-thirds majority it hoped for – and it needs to be sincerely congratulated for its achievements.

The ANC and its members have every reason to party, for at the least the next couple of days, until they have actually blown the R75m it will take to enjoy the inauguration ceremony for our new president, Jacob Zuma.

Shortly after the 9 May inauguration, Zuma will form his new cabinet and appoint (or rearrange) his ministers so you (and your Jimmy Choo shoes) may find that you've got new responsibilities to take on. If that's the case, let me wish you luck in a new position.

If not, and you remain minister of housing then you certainly will not risk damaging any one of the £500-a-pair Jimmy Choos you have in your cupboard by tramping around building sites to see the work that's being done.

If you haven't done so in the past, why would you start doing so now?

Whoever emerges as the housing minister in Zuma's reshuffle (whether it's Dr Lindwe Sisulu or someone else), I sincerely hope that the focus of our housing minister's efforts will be to provide quality homes, where they are needed most, to people who so badly deserve to be given adequate shelter.

I also hope that the houses you build will at least measure up to those awful 51/9 Type B homes built under an apartheid government more than 50 years ago. At least those houses are still standing, don't leak, have windows and doors that close properly and haven't subsided either. How ironic is that: Apartheid houses that don't fall down?

I've seen your roadside banners proclaiming that you delivered 2,7m homes to the people of South Africa. That, in itself, is an achievement – the only problem is that some of the houses are already falling down; others are stuck away in the bundu, so far from any work opportunities that they may as well be a holiday village and, worst of all, your own department is riddled with allegations of corruption and nepotism when it comes to allocating houses to the poor and indigent.

Of course, we as the voting public are never quite sure who to hold responsible in the three-tier government system that prevails. You see, at the top of the pile is the housing minister who works with her officials at national level. Then, there is a vast team of provincial officials who look after provincial affairs and finally, there is local government (municipalities) that look after housing in their immediate community.

On paper that sounds like a reasonable structure. In reality, it's absolutely brilliant because no one is actually accountable, responsible or culpable. Confuse is the ruse – and you've done it magnificently.

If the quality of housing is poor, the national department says, when asked who killed Cock-Robin, "Not I . . ." and simply moves on. If the provincial department is accused of corruption, the national department says that it's a provincial matter, while the municipal government says the province must sort out the problem. If houses are built far away from job opportunities, both the national and provincial governments blame the municipality for allocating the land there. They are absolved. If the national government is blamed for awarding a crooked contract, the provincial and municipal officials say it has nothing to do with them.

Round and round the mulberry bush until, eventually, the citizens revolt, riots break out and frustrated people go on the rampage.

Dear Housing Minister, people are sick of running round and round this mulberry bush.

Don't you see the thousands of complaints about a lack of housing, about corruption in the housing departments, about the quality of work done by the housing departments? Well, sadly, this is a direct reflection of your own performance as the leader of the housing initiatives in South Africa.

You need to improve this. So why don't you consider taking efficiency lessons from Finance Minister Trevor Manuel. I understand that he might soon be looking for something else to do and perhaps he can help you learn to run a department properly, how to weed-out corrupt officials or build houses that won't fall down.

I'm sure that with time on his hands – and a high-powered companion working in a building society (as it used to be called) – he might be able to assist you in making some real changes to the delivery of housing in South Africa. Not only in the form of what are commonly called RDP houses but in the affordable housing sector as well.
If you were to and occasionally swop the Jimmy Choos for some ordinary takkies and actually start walking around some of the building sites we might start getting some quality back into building, have fewer complaints about cracked walls, doors that fall off, roofs that leak and foundations that subside. And, you'd be doing your job.

After all it's our money you're spending and you should be getting value for each rand you dole out on our behalf. And, while we're about it, please won't you stop building little boxes in indifferent rows along the edges of the highways.

There are millions of hectares of land in South Africa that your government owns and that can be used to provide proper housing for our people. Please trying being a bit more imaginative – I mean you have a wonderful fashion sense so why keep building unfashionable, heartless, soulless little boxes?

And we need these houses around our cities – not in some far flung corner of Bisho, Hazyview or Mafikeng.

You, Dear Housing Minister, have another five year mandate from the people of South Africa because that is the will of the people. To fulfill this mandate takes work, effort, attention to detail and exceptional organisation. If you have the ability to win an election convincingly then, surely, you have the ability to run a housing department flawlessly.

Why not start doing so – it takes no more effort to do a job badly than it does to do it well.

Wishing you, and your department, all the best for the next five years.

*Hartdegen writes a regular column for Property24.com. The content of his columns constitutes his personal opinion and don't pretend to be facts or advice. Contact him at paddy@neomail.co.za.

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