Nelspruit - Mpumalanga's housing department intends completing 8 000 houses that were left incomplete by incompetent contractors.

Local government and housing spokesperson Simphiwe Kunene said the department would not build new houses during the current financial year, but would concentrate on completing the houses that were abandoned by contractors.

"We hope that by the end of this financial year we would have completed those houses, and start new projects by April next year," Kunene said.

He said that about 80 incompetent housing contractors had been fired and replaced with new ones.

These contractors were never paid, Kunene added.

"A number of contractors did not perform well and the MEC (Jabu Mahlangu) has indicated that he would not tolerate poor service," he said.

MEC Mahlangu has already met housing contractors in the province's three districts of Gert Sibande, Ehlanzeni and Nkangala to map a way forward for speedy delivery of houses in the province.

"[Mahlangu] has, during these meetings, raised issues around quality of the structures and importance of contractors meeting deadlines," Kunene said.

Meanwhile, finance minister Trevor Manuel was shocked by the poor quality of RDP houses during a visit to the Nkomazi region on Sunday.

The houses, which the Minister saw as part of a government initiative to monitor service delivery at municipalities under Project Consolidate, had incomplete walls and doors smaller than the doorframes