N2 Gateway Project: Housing Rights Violations as 'Development' in South Africa

The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) today released a report on housing rights violations in the context of the N2 Gateway development project in South Africa. The report is based on research conducted by COHRE during a fact finding mission to South Africa in 2008 and its amicus curiae (‘friend of the court’) submission to the South African Constitutional Court in the recently decided "Joe Slovo" case (Residents of Joe Slovo Community, Western Cape v Thubelisha Homes & Others, CCT 22/08[2009] ZACC 16).

The N2 Gateway project has been mired in controversy and complications. Various concerns raised both by the people of Joe Slovo and Delft in the context of the project epitomise South Africa’s housing crisis which is marked by a huge housing backlog and lack of transparency with regard to the housing waiting lists, compounded by a continuing top down approach to housing delivery. Engagement and consultation with communities is increasingly viewed as a formality that needs to be completed while implementing the project rather than a necessary prerequisite for ensuring that the project truly caters to the needs of the community in question and is respectful of their human rights.

The report - N2 Gateway Project: Housing Rights Violations as ‘Development’ in South Africa - can be Downloaded here