agency's executive director, Nonhlanhla Mjoli-Mncube, says the move marks its 'determination to lend where big banks fear to tread'.

'This Mpumalanga facility will enhance clients' ability to gain access to the rapidly growing National Saving Scheme,' she says.

The agency launched the savings scheme last year to encourage poor people to save so that they could gain access to home loans through financial institutions and banks.

The scheme has mobilised more than 30000 savers in about 12 months. 'We have come to see saving for housing as good', beyond simply being a tool to unlock credit,' says Mjoli-Mncube.

She says major banking institutions' reluctance to lend to people in the low-income bracket prompted the agency to broaden its mission from being a guarantor to including loan disbursements in joint venture operations.

The agency's primary housing delivery vehicle is still through guarantees to banks for loans to ensure that entrepreneurs, mainly contractors, emerging contractors, women entrepreneurs and developers, have the necessary funds to operate their housing businesses.