By Tammy O'Reilly
A comprehensive long-term plan to accelerate the delivery of houses and eradicate
all informal settlements in Ekurhuleni has been unveiled by the Metro.
Executive Mayor Duma Nkosi released the 2006-2025 Sustainable Human Settlements
Plan during a two-day housing summit dubbed Creating Sustainable Human Settlements.
The summit, held at the Alberton Civic Centre on 23 and 24 January, was arranged
to evaluate and seek better ways of accelerating housing delivery in Ekurhuleni.
The crux of the 2006-2025 Sustainable Human Settlements Plan is to get rid
of informal settlements by creating quality, low cost housing at a quick rate
as well as provide the necessary infrastructure for the newly created communities,
such as roads, community centres and schools.
It is estimated that a total of R7-billion will be needed over the next five
years to ensure these goals are met. The Metro hopes to acquire the money
from the provincial Housing Conditional Grant, bonds and investment from the
private sector.
Officially, there are 112 informal settlements and 22 hostels in the metro,
the highest number in Gauteng. One of the aims of the plan is to ensure that
more settlements are not created, but the constantly growing population of
Ekurhuleni threatens to upset this goal.
"We are definitely doing something right in Ekurhuleni because people
come here and they don't want to go away," joked Nkosi. On a serious
note, however, he said that the increasing population had a ripple effect
creating a burden on the services that already existed and putting pressure
on local government to develop areas that previously did not need to be developed.
Provincial MEC for Housing Nomvula Mokonyane said this problem was not exclusive
to Ekurhuleni.
"In Gauteng alone the population numbers soared from 7,3 million in 1996
to 8,8 million in 2001, resulting in increased demand for government infrastructure
and services. One can only imagine what the numbers are now," she said.
Nkosi outlined numerous other challenges the Metro faced regarding housing,
such as illegal land invasions; improving the quality of low cost housing;
ensuring that the approved beneficiaries were allocated their houses; and
giving houses to those who had been on the waiting list since 1996.
He attributed some of the problems to the Metro's young age. As it was only
formed in 2000, it was not unusual that it experienced such problems. However,
between 1994 and November 2005, 97 557 stands had been serviced with electricity
and water, 66 459 houses had been constructed and 29 981 beds had been given
out through the hostel regeneration programme.
Both speakers said inter-governmental relations needed to improve for the
housing problem to be dealt with effectively.
"Given the pressures and challenges we are facing in housing delivery,
we require a firm commitment from the three spheres of government to work
in collaboration and in a co-operative manner to effect immediate, meaningful,
sustainable improvements in the living condition of our people," Mokonyane
said.
The head of public services in the provincial housing department, Benedicta
Monama, said the Metro's goal of eradicating all informal settlements by 2014
was achievable so long as the government remained committed to realising everyone's
right to housing.
Providing housing was not just about "creating a four-walled structure
on piece of land".
"Delivery of a structure does not mean delivery of a house. Firstly,
we need to clearly define what housing means. Providing a house does not add
any value to a person's quality of life if there is no infrastructure to complement
those houses. We need to create not only houses, but an environment,"
she said.
The Metro should be cautious in choosing contractors. "The declining
delivery of houses is also linked to some of the problems we face with our
contractors. When it comes to low cost housing, we find that our contractors
are not impressed with the low profit margins. They end up withdrawing their
contracts and leaving us in the lurch."
Speaking about migration, Mark Hilderbrand, the executive director of the
Cities Alliance, said there was no evidence to suggest that people moved to
cities because there was a lack of water or sanitation where they lived.
"People move to the city because there are jobs [there]. This is potentially
good for the economy, but it can also be damaging if this move is not managed
correctly. Both national and city-level policies need to be predicated on
the growth of cities."
The Cities Alliance provides logistical support to governments around the
world that are undertaking major projects like the eradication of slums and
the regeneration of cities.
A number of representatives from the provincial and national housing departments,
local and international banks, business people and academics attended the
summit.
In closing, Nkosi said the attendance was an indication that people were genuinely
concerned about the issues facing the Metro. Ekurhuleni was committed to reaching
its housing goals and would hold regular sessions to evaluate progress, he
concluded.
Presentation for Seminar
