South Africa: Innovative Solutions Needed for Housing Crisis

The concept of RDP housing has been a revolutionary programme replicated nowhere in the world. Despite often justified criticism, it is hard to deny that it has been a large force for empowering and enfranchising the most disenfranchised in South Africa. However, after some three million homes have been given away, it appears this policy has served its purpose and something more sustainable is likely to take its place.

Several developments these past weeks have confirmed that SA is moving away from a singular focus on the provision of free housing to other forms of subsidy that aid poorer households and allow them to join the formal housing ladder.

Soula Proxenos, managing partner at International Housing Solutions (IHS) says recent developments indicated the biggest single policy change on housing to date, and that initiatives announced by government were going to provide significant support to working South Africans who could not previously afford to buy a home.

Current housing model is not sustainable

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Speaking at the IHS Investor Conference in Stellenbosch after the budget announcement, Planning Minister Trevor Manuel said: "Government has provided three million subsidised homes since 1994. But the current model is not sustainable." He analysed the challenges of the current model and said that densification needed to be explored, and noted the president's announcement with regards to gap housing subsidies. Manuel said that it may be required to redesign the system in its entirety. "A different approach is required. We need new models with the three spheres of government working closer together and a strengthening of public-private partnerships."

Gap housing, or affordable housing, services the section of the market which does not qualify for free RDP homes but which also does not earn enough to qualify for a bond at the mid-to-higher end of the market. Unfortunately, for historical reasons, there is a huge discrepancy between the supply of affordable housing and demand. IHS has been at the forefront of funding affordable housing development in the country, and is nearing the close of its first fund, the South African Workforce Housing Fund.

Densification must be assessed

Represented at the investor conference were institutional investors in charge of more than R1.5 trillion globally. Manuel as well as Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille impressed upon them the current and growth expectations of the affordable housing sector, as well as the necessity of stock provision in the affordable housing market in coming years. Both of them confirmed the need for innovative solutions and public-private partnerships to address the housing crisis in SA, as well as a serious assessment of densification.

"While once there was a heavy focus on the provision of free homes, there now is an increasing focus on the need for gap housing," said De Lille. "I do think that our focus as a country has been providing housing to one aspect of the market. As much as those who cannot afford houses need them, and there is a long waiting list, there are also those who are just above this level. The need for gap housing is possibly one of the more urgent development pressures we face in South Africa," she said.

"We have land which we are willing to sell to developers to create these integrated communities. That is a benefit for the City's housing backlog, a benefit for the developers, a benefit for the housing market, and a benefit, most importantly, for ordinary people themselves."

- allAfrica

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela has called on South Africans to speak out when their rights are being violated.

"The public protector said South Africa is a constitutional democracy which gives citizens various channels through which they can engage with government," Madonsela's spokeswoman, Kgalalelo Masibi, said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

These channels included the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Rights of Cultural Religious and Linguistic Communities, the Human Rights Commission, the Auditor-General, and her Office.

Madonsela was speaking at a Human Rights Day commemoration in the Bohlokong township in the Free State.

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She urged the community to use these channels to demand answers and hold those entrusted with public power and public resources accountable, said Masibi.

Madonsela explained that the Freedom Charter allowed people to empower themselves with information about their rights, responsibilities and knowledge of how government works.

Madonsela asked that people focus on systems and not on personalities when working with her office or other Chapter 9 institutions.

Their rights included the socio-economic rights such as rights to access to health care, education, decent housing and freedom to pursue economic activities.

- Timeslive

Youth ‘should help in social and economic change’

Addressing a group of young people in Cape Town yesterday, as part of a housing summit, Deputy Minister of Human Settlements Zoe Kota-Fredericks said the government wanted the youth to be part of social economic transformation.

Kota-Fredericks was addressing about 100 young people at the Provincial Youth in Human Settlements Summit at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.

She said in deepening the country’s democracy “we also need your participation in building human settlements in this country as the government cannot deliver housing alone”.

“My department has a lot of programmes for youth. For instance, there is the volunteer project whereby young people can help build houses for the elderly and sick.

“And there are also bursaries available for those who wish to follow a career in construction,” Kota-Fredericks said.

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Premier Helen Zille said while on a walkabout in Nyanga recently she was approached “by a girl who could have been 12 or 14 years old and she asked me: ‘Where is my house’?

“Young people must not say things like this. What she should have said was: ‘I demand that my school is of a high standard.’

“We cannot spend more money on human settlements. We can either do a great deal for a few billion people or spend billions on doing little for few people.

“So we are trying to do a lot for less. This is why we have decided to spend more money on basic services so that a lot of people have access to water and toilets,” Zille said. Human settlements MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela said there was a backlog of 500,000 houses in the province.

He said a look at the budget allocation to human settlements showed that it would take about 30 years to provide houses for everyone at the current rate of delivery, and that was assuming the backlog did not grow.

“Our strategy is to ensure that at least everyone in the Western Cape has access to basic services by 2014,” Madikizela said.

- The New Age

Cape MEC comes under fire

Human Settlements MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela was put on the spot by young people attending the Western Cape Human Settlements Youth Summit yesterday.

Delegates fired questions at Madikizela about what the department was doing to improve South Africans’ living conditions and under-spending, among other issues.

More than 60 young people attended the summit at the Cape Town International Convention Centre which started yesterday and continues today.

The summit was opened with a keynote address by Premier Helen Zille, who emphasised the value of doing a little for more people, rather than doing a lot for fewer South Africans.

“Hundreds and thousands of people are looking for homes. While people are waiting for their houses, people are living without taps, toilets and storm water. People need to live with some dignity now,” said Zille.

Zille called on the youth to work with the government.

“Upgrading informal settlements is a social process. We have to work together to resolve the human settlement crisis. Every young person needs to grow up with vision and hope for a life in which they are contributing and capable citizens that add value,” she said.

Samkelo Mqombothi, provincial secretary for the Congress of SA Students, said the summit was a platform for him to point out areas in which the youth was neglected in the MEC’s budget speech.

“He gave us a lot of figures about skills development programmes. I want to know where, when, how, with whom these programmes are going to be carried out,” said Mqombothi.

Roscoe Jacobs, of the Hangberg Education Development Movement, said young people have a lot to offer the department.

“We can bring to the table solutions that we would like to see. We saw how not consulting with the community turned out for the city in Hangberg,” he said.

“As people who are actually living in the communities, we have a better understanding of the issues and what we want than the premier or the MEC,” said Jacobs.

- Cape Argus

Housing brings dignity – Zille

Adequate housing is a key requirement for a sense of dignity, Western Cape premier Helen Zille said on Monday.

“One cannot live a life one values if your shelter leaks when it rains, is vulnerable to structural collapse or is not safe or secure,” she said in a speech prepared for delivery at a Western Cape youth in human settlements summit.

Zille said the state did not have enough money to provide a house to everyone who needed one.

“This is the hard truth of the matter. At the same time, the state cannot simply say: 'We'll help who we can within our limited budget and too bad for the rest of you'.

“This is why housing policy has changed in South Africa from the well-meaning, yet unattainable goal of a self-standing house for every family that couldn't afford it, to the approach of providing a range of housing opportunity choices.”

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As a result, the government could now do “a little for the many” instead of “a lot for the few”.

Zille said with youth unemployment in South Africa at an estimated 51 percent, it was crucial that every effort be made to equip them with the knowledge and tools to compete in the job market, as well as to support young entrepreneurs.

“In this way, the youth can have a fighting chance to build and live lives they value, if they take advantage of those opportunities and exercise their responsibility as citizens.”

The provincial summit followed a national meeting in Durban in July 2011, at which all provincial governments were tasked with hosting similar provincial events. – Sapa

Housing on a new, green high

TWO eco-friendly houses are rising from the ground in suburban Melbourne built from a plant normally associated with 1960s hippie heaven: hemp.

In an Australian-mainland first, the walls of the semi-detached homes in trendy inner-city Northcote will be made from the cannabis-based building product Hempcrete, pioneered by a Queensland company for its carbon-neutral properties.

The eight-star green rated homes are the inspiration of two medical practitioners, a father and daughter team who will live side by side with their three generations in the one construction.

Along with the hemp walls, the architect-designed homes will have a solid rammed-earth dividing wall, double-glazed windows, underground water tanks and grey-water recycling, as well as solar panels for electricity, hot water and hydronic heating.

Michelle Leadston and her father, Bill, bought the large block in Northcote three years ago intent on building two sustainable homes for their families to live in.

'I've always said I'm going to look after my parents when they get old,' she said. 'This was the most convenient option. The babysitter's next door. And it's not too close. There's a big wall in between.'

Both families wanted to share a common backyard and other design features such as lower, child-friendly windows and intimate, internal courtyards, said Dorit Przyborowski of Steffen Welsch Architects.

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The internal walls will be lined with magnesium oxide boards instead of plaster. The generational differences were also evident in the design. Michelle put more emphasis on child-friendly spaces, Bill on the living and dining areas, Ms Przyborowski said. If land was subdivided in future, both houses can be independent, she said.

Hemp from local farms will be delivered to the building site in shredded form, mixed with lime and compacted in formwork to make the exterior walls, using techniques similar to rammed earth construction.

'This is one of the first in Australia,' the home's builder, Stuart Dunne, said. 'People have done bits and pieces but this is probably one of the largest projects to date.'

A drawback of using hemp was that it was labour intensive and therefore costly, he said. Sustainable architecture is not new to Bill Leadston.He built his present home in North Balwyn 30 years ago with north-facing orientation, slab heating and solar hot water.

Despite its obvious green benefits, Darebin Council opposed the new building's design forcing an appeal to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, Dr Leadston said. 'They virtually said, 'If you want it, you've got to go to VCAT', he said.

Construction of both homes will cost $1.6 million and is expected to finish in November.

The Age would like to hear about new, innovative buildings, materials, methods, designs or services.

- The Age

Hemp House featured on Top Billing

Protesters block Cape Town highway

About 100 Khayelitsha residents were locked in a stand-off with police on the N2 highway in Cape Town, Western Cape police said on Friday.

Captain Frederick van Wyk said men, women and children blocked the highway at about 10pm on Thursday with stones, rubble and burning tyres.

The crowd had gathered at the Mew Way bridge near the airport, he said.

Police were pelted with stones. They warned residents to disperse but were ignored.

“Two stun grenades were thrown among the protesters and they ran and hid behind a wall. They were still throwing stones at the (police) members,” van Wyk said.

A flare was set off to provide light for the officers, who then moved to disperse the crowd.

Residents disappeared between houses before they could be apprehended.

Van Wyk said police patrolled the township while the highway was cleared of debris.

It was re-opened at 1am.

The motive for the protest is unknown, and no arrests were made. – Sapa

Ministry of HS Shit reminder

Housing minister says unclosed toilets strip our people of their dignity - 6 September 2011

Sexwale unveils sanitation task team

Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale has today unveiled a task team to be headed by Ms Winnie Madikizela-Mandela to advise on the issue of unclosed and or incomplete toilets in the country.

Media exposé of this inhumane practice in Makhaza, Moqhaka and Moutse before and during the local government elections this year made it clear to the department that the magnitude of the problem might be unknown, since the sanitation function has recently been transferred to the Department of Human Settlements from Water Affairs.

Minister Sexwale says the department is honored that Ms Winnie Madikizela Mandela, at this time in her life has accepted to provide a helping hand for a constituency which has always been close to her heart - the poorest of the poor.

He added: "These incomplete or unclosed toilets strip our people of their dignity and they are unhealthy. The team is tasked with identifying and locating such structures in-order to have them fixed. This sordid chapter must be brought to an end."

The task team has three months to wrap up its work and will establish:

• the scale of the problem
• its nature
• its geographic spread, i.e. urban or rural
• identify irregularities and malpractices

The task team will report back in January 2012 with recommendations relating to policy gaps, legislative short comings, budgetary issues or any other matters.

Mrs Madikizela-Mandela says, "Together with all task team members we are humbled to be requested by our own children within Human Settlements to give off our limited time towards our poor communities. For me there is nothing new since this has been my life for as long as I can remember."

Other members of the task team include:

Dr Fazel Randera, former Inspector-General of Intelligence Tom Manthata, former commissioner with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Patrick Magebhula, a member of the Minister's panel of advisors The Director-General will provide the necessary resources and technical support to the National Task Team to enable it to carry-out its strategic operations efficiently and effectively.

We have requested Ministers to second officials from the following departments:

• Health
• Waterand Environmental Affairs
• Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs

- Issued by the Department of Human Settlements - September 6 2011

HRC hears about grim realities in Makhaza

Waste-filled buckets, blocked and leaking open toilets and people using vacant plots to relieve themselves with nothing but bushes for cover.

These were some of the realities outlined on Wednesday by Makhaza residents at the launch of Human Rights Commission (HRC) national public hearings on water and sanitation.

The hearings came a day after city officials and the HRC visited Makhaza, where residents complained that problems with sanitation persisted, even though the city had largely complied with a court order to enclose 1 316 toilets.

Kayum Ahmed, the chief executive of the HRC, identified “lack of consultation with communities” as a key challenge.

Cameron Jacobs, of the HRC, presented preliminary findings on sanitation in Makhaza in 2011. While the report found that 98 percent of households had access to toilets, Jacobs said “this statistic masked the realities”. Leaking toilets, lack of privacy and protection from the elements and criminals, and large numbers of people forced to share a toilet showed facilities were inadequate.

HRC deputy chairwoman Pregs Govender

said the government had fallen behind on its target of achieving national access to sanitation by 2014.

- Cape Argus

Cape municipality, residents make peace

The Theewaterskloof municipality on Thursday said it had made peace with Villiersdorp residents following violent protests.

It met with the police, the Villiersdorp Civic Organisation and the co-operative governance and traditional affairs department on Wednesday to seek an end to protesting.

The civic organisation handed over its memorandum of demands on Monday. Residents of Goniwe Park caused chaos the same day, destroying public facilities and setting their community hall alight.

The municipality sent a written reaction to the memorandum, but the civic organisation rejected it.

Wednesday's meeting ended with the municipality committing itself to optimal service delivery, which had been the gripe of many frustrated residents, according to a joint statement issued by the parties involved.

“At this meeting it was realised that there were not substantial differences between the views of the parties,” the statement read.

“The protesters expressed their understanding of the limitations of the municipal abilities and capacities to provide services. All parties agreed that good service delivery to the community is non-negotiable and welcomed the restored law and order in the town.”

The co-operative governance department would monitor the implementation of the resolutions on a quarterly basis. – Sapa

Informal shack toilets neglected

Toilets in informal settlements are often neglected because they are seen as a temporary arrangement, the Social Justice Coalition said in Cape Town on Wednesday.

Policy co-ordinator Gavin Silber said these areas were seen as illegal and therefore not in need of proper infrastructure.

“We need to change the very nature of communities and the way we view them. We have failed to generate and implement policy around how we deliver services to these communities.”

He was speaking at a SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) public hearing on water and sanitation.

The commission was discussing ways to solve the rampant problem of unenclosed toilets and poorly-maintained sanitation in informal areas.

It highlighted two affected informal settlements, Makhaza in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, and Rammolutsi near Viljoenskroon in the Free State.

The DA become embroiled in a political storm for failing to enclose more than 1300 toilets in Makhaza. In June 2011, the party acted on a Cape High Court order to enclose these toilets.

It then emerged that the ANC had failed to enclose almost 1600 toilets in Rammulotsi. In May 11 the SAHRC ordered the Moqhaka municipality to urgently enclose the toilets.

Commission chairman Lawrence Mushwana said the matter had become political.

“Yes, it is political in a way because it is governed by politicians, but we don't want politics to blind us.”

Silber said local government could focus on two issues that would immediately improve the situation.

The first was to ensure toilets did not become blocked, damaged, or potential hazards.

The second was to have meaningful engagement with affected communities, so they could advise on the best toilets for their needs in terms of design, location and safety.

About 10 million people in South Africa do not have access to basic sanitation. – Sapa

Toilet saga is ‘far from over’

The chapter on the controversial open-air toilet saga in Khayelitsha is almost closed.

Yet residents and the Human Rights Commission (HRC) said the most glaring problems around decent sanitation were far from over.

On Tuesday, residents explained how many still relieved themselves in open fields.

Others continued to use the bucket system. They said sometimes full buckets stood in front of shacks for days before being emptied.

They were speaking as the City of Cape Town and HRC went on a walkabout in the area to inspect the enclosure of the toilets.

This was ahead of the commission’s national public hearings on water and sanitation, which officially started in the city on Wednesday.

In 2010, the news of unenclosed toilets in Khayelitsha made national headlines. Residents explained how they were forced to use blankets to cover themselves when they used the toilets.

The city argued that residents had agreed to enclose the toilets themselves.

Violent protests spread through the area, with leaders of the ANC Youth League being arrested during the unrest.

The HRC also started its own investigation, finding that the city had breached human rights in not enclosing the toilets. And in the middle of last year, the Western Cape High Court ordered the city to enclose the more than 1 300 toilets.

On Tuesday, the HRC, mayor Patricia de Lille and city officials went to inspect the site.

They were accompanied by Andile Lili, a man who was central to the saga from the beginning.

Lili, an ANC Youth League member and now a city councillor, reported it to the HRC and was also one of the residents who brought the application before the high court.

Lili explained that some disabled residents were still struggling to use the toilets, because they were not wheelchair-friendly.

Out of the 1 316 toilets the city was ordered to close, 1 030 were closed.

In the rest of cases, residents declined to have them closed.

Some of them had already enclosed their own toilets.

Lili also pointed to a lack of proper drainage.

There were also nine plots where there was no water supply. At the scene, De Lille asked officials to investigate this.

Apart from these issues, De Lille said she was satisfied that the city had complied with the court order.

In the next financial year, she said, more than R2 billion would be allocated to informal settlements.

“In general, I’m happy we’re making progress. We’ll continue ongoing work to improve.”

After the walkabout, residents discussed their concerns with HRC members, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba and Shehaam Sims, the mayoral committee member for utility services.

Makhaza resident Lumkile Sizila said there was very little monitoring of sanitation services.

“There is a big gap between the city and the community. Communities have no choice.”

There were instances of 20 families using one toilet, and one tap for 100 people, said Sizila.

Before the meeting, Pregs Govender, the HRC deputy chairwoman, said: “Addressing the right to sanitation is a challenge. And it’s a reality for millions of people, who still in 2012 don’t experience that right.”

Sims stressed that it was not any city official’s intention of “undermining dignity”.

- Cape Argus

Baby tear-gassed as riots grip town

A woman feared her baby would die after they were tear-gassed by police during violent protests.

Tiny Osulwa Bushula was one of the innocent victims of the mayhem that has unfolded on the mean streets of Villiersdorp since Monday.

The normally quiet town has been transformed into a war zone during 48 hours of running battles between police and protesters.

Armed police officers fired rubber bullets at protesters after they came under a hail of bricks and stones.

Many innocent bystanders also got caught up in the chaos.

Baby Osulwa’s terrified mom Thumeka tells the Daily Voice: “My face and lungs burnt and I covered my child with blankets to prevent the tear gas from burning her as well, but it did not help.

“My baby cried the whole night and even struggled to breathe at some points.”

The distraught mother could not take her baby girl to the clinic because it was closed as a result of the riots.

And the Villiersdorp Periodic Court was also disrupted by the rioting which engulfed the usually-quiet town.

Cases that were scheduled for Tuesday were postponed or transferred to the Caledon Magistrates’ Court.

On Monday, protesters set community halls and a fire truck alight and the streets were littered with burning tyres.

The authorities had prayed there would not be a repeat of the violence, but their hopes were dashed early in the morning when the rioters took to the streets again.

However, this time, police were better prepared – they placed a ring of steel around the under-siege town and enforced an effective lockdown to keep the rioters at bay.

And by lunchtime, a sense of uneasy calm descended.

Angry protesters Tuesday night claimed they came under fire without any warning from the police.

But community leaders urged residents to remain calm.

“Leave the councillors’ houses alone. Leave our churches alone. Leave the schoolchildren alone,” Simon McKenzie warned the crowd.

McKenzie also insists the chaotic protest action was not political.

He claims the only reason for the violence was because of residents’ unhappiness about poor service delivery in the Theewaterskloof Municipality.

The community is also left counting the cost of the burning of local halls and the fire truck.

Overberg Fire and Rescue Services’ head Reinard Geldenhuys estimates it will cost more than R1 million to replace the vehicle.

“Despite the truck being burnt, it is also being stripped now as we could not remove it because the people were too riotous,” he tells the Daily Voice.

Geldenhuys adds that it is the only fire truck in the small town.

One fireman was also injured when protesters threw stones at the truck.

“He suffered a cut on his forehead when he was hit with a stone,” adds Geldenhuys.

Some residents claim locals were threatened and dragged out of their houses to join in the march, and others were forbidden from going to work.

Pastor Danie Bantom, 38, says his three kids were dragged into the march by protesters against their will.

“The people must consider each other and the police also,” Pastor Bantom tells the Daily Voice.

Police spokesperson Captain FC van Wyk says cops will continue to monitor the area over the coming days.

“The police are still maintaining high visibility in the area by doing patrols,” he says.

Community leaders were last night still locked in discussions with authorities in a bid to bring an end to the protests.

And Theewaterskloof Municipality spokesman Stiffie Cronje says: “Because so many municipal workers could not attend work as a result of the chaos, the damages have not estimated yet.”

*This article was published in the Daily Voice