Squatter sites rise - informal settlements double
Squatter sites rise
The number of informal settlements in South Africa has doubled in the last 10 years.
Just last week about 100 households started erecting shacks across Main Reef Road near the Princess informal settlement in Roodepoort, western Johannesburg.
One of those hard at work was Tlotlo Sejamoholo.
"I was living on a plot but the owner sold it and we had to leave last week," he said. " That is why I am here."
Sejamoholo's neighbour, Josephina Mosulusi, said: "We are under constant threat from Metro police but we have nowhere else to go."
Other residents of the new shanty town said they moved from Princess because they were on a flood plain.
In 2001 there were 1 066 shanty towns nationally. That number has since risen to 2628 informal settlements "as at the 2009-10 financial year".
"This figure does not take into account any new or illegal informal settlements that emerged from the time the study was initiated and concluded. This figure is estimated to be nearer to 2700," said Chris Vick, who speaks for the national Department of Human Settlement.
Only about "721 informal settlements have been identified nationally for formalisation and upgrading with basic services by the various provinces and local municipalities", he said.
Gauteng has the highest number of informal settlements. At least 84 new informal settlements sprang up in the last five years - from 405 settlements in 2005. In January 489 were counted.
"Only 122 lend themselves to formalisation. To date 69 of the settlements have already been formalised and are now legally recognised as townships. That means people have a title deed registered in the name of the beneficiary," said Fred Mokoko, Gauteng spokesperson for housing.
"Settlements can only be formalised if the location of the settlement is complimentary to Provincial and Municipal Planning Policy such as the Spatial Development Framework (SDF) and Integrated Development Plan (IDP) in which municipalities amongst other things make provision for future housing planning.
"Settlements earmarked for formalisation will have to undergo not just an assessment from a planning policy or framework compliance point of view, but also suitability in terms of physical features such as the soil conditions, environmental sensitivities," Mokoko said.
"It would be important to acknowledge that as planning for a particular settlement is completed, and in the absence of stringent growth management measures in place, settlements continue to experience internal growth that often renders approved township plans obsolete. Such township plans will have to be amended or alternative plans must be put in place and often such dense settlements will have to be relocated elsewhere," he said.
Johannesburg municipality is carrying the heaviest burden with 180 shanty towns.
Currently, 25 percent of Johannesburg's citizens fall in the informal category which equates to about 200 000 households.
Keywords - Gauteng, informal settlements, moladi, rural development, concrete homes, backlog, households, Integrated Development Plan, Human settlements, shanty town, Chris Vick, Department of Human Settlement
Showing posts with label Chris vick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chris vick. Show all posts
How to build quality houses for R55 000
Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale has trudged the width and breadth of the country, demolishing poorly built RDP houses. In the process, he has gained praise as a minister who is now going to give the poor well-deserved decent houses. The Sunday Independent spoke to housing experts who say Sexwale's promise of quality is likely to run into problems. Among the challenges in his path will be:
Inflation
Whether he has to purchase land or not
Profit-taking by contractors
Inconsistency in provinces.Tito Khalo, a housing expert and professor in the public management faculty of humanities at the Tshwane University of Technology, said the government needed to find more money for quality low-cost housing and ensure consistency in respect of build quality throughout the country to avoid the costly problems of the past.
Khalo said he was not sure if the R55 000 allocated for the building of each house by the government would be enough, taking into account inflation."In 1994 the government allocated R25 000 for house and land, and if the strategy now is to build bigger houses, the amount is less than when the house construction began. Certainly, the strategy needs to change so that houses in every province match national housing standards," he said. Khalo said the government had sacrificed quality in the rush to meet the ANC's 1994 election pledge of building a million homes and, as a result, it had ended up building what Bantu Holomisa once described as "Unos" - one door and one window homes reminiscent of the tiny Fiat vehicle. Property analyst at Absa, Jacques du Toit said R55 000 was not "a lot of money to build a house" and shoddy workmanship should not be tolerated again. "Proper structures must be built, ones in which people can live. Given recent history, and past standards, along with rising building costs, it is possible to have properties built costing R45 000 but it is far more difficult," he said.Architect and promotions and communications executive at the South African Institute of Architects, Zola Kgaka, said the institute, which is involved in low-cost housing projects, had given the ministry reasons why architects should be involved in the planning. In the past they were not part of the process. While Kgaka said providing a view on low-cost houses would be subjective, building a suitable dwelling at a cost of R55 000 was dependent on several factors. These included whether the entire amount was for the structure, or if the land costs were excluded. "Since low-cost homes are built in bulk, due to the economies of scale unit costs come down," she said.Kecia Rust, the housing finance theme co-ordinator at non-profit independent Finmark Trust, which aims to make financial markets work for the poor, said: "If the minister is knocking down houses and building new ones, you can build something with R55 000. You can't make the money bigger because we have a backlog of 2.2 million units in the country. "In 2004, the cabinet approved a new policy, known as Breaking New Ground. The emphasis of that policy was that we must build homes, not merely houses. The houses demolished by the minister were most likely RDP houses, built before 2004". Special advisor to Sexwale, Chris Vick, said a national audit task team appointed by the minister was both a punitive and a corrective measure. It would identify people in the public and private sectors who were involved in wrongdoing, and ensure they were brought to book. It would also identify loopholes in processes, and make recommendations on how to eliminate them. "This applies particularly to questions of quality. The task team is expected to come up with recommendations for ensuring that we avoid quality problems in the future, by outlining preventative measures that can and should be taken throughout the home construction phase."Vick said it was envisaged that the task team would make recommendations on ensuring that only qualified construction companies were awarded contracts, and would outline steps to enforce all the quality control measures involved in home construction.In addition, the Department of Human Settlements is increasing its capacity to monitor and evaluate the quality of home building by making more frequent visits to housing projects and working more closely with provincial and local government, where delivery takes place. He added that the National Home Builders' Registration Council was in the process of appointing building inspectors who would focus more directly on issues of quality, and monitor the roll-out of government home-building projects.
moladi - www.moladi.net
Inflation
Whether he has to purchase land or not
Profit-taking by contractors
Inconsistency in provinces.Tito Khalo, a housing expert and professor in the public management faculty of humanities at the Tshwane University of Technology, said the government needed to find more money for quality low-cost housing and ensure consistency in respect of build quality throughout the country to avoid the costly problems of the past.
Khalo said he was not sure if the R55 000 allocated for the building of each house by the government would be enough, taking into account inflation."In 1994 the government allocated R25 000 for house and land, and if the strategy now is to build bigger houses, the amount is less than when the house construction began. Certainly, the strategy needs to change so that houses in every province match national housing standards," he said. Khalo said the government had sacrificed quality in the rush to meet the ANC's 1994 election pledge of building a million homes and, as a result, it had ended up building what Bantu Holomisa once described as "Unos" - one door and one window homes reminiscent of the tiny Fiat vehicle. Property analyst at Absa, Jacques du Toit said R55 000 was not "a lot of money to build a house" and shoddy workmanship should not be tolerated again. "Proper structures must be built, ones in which people can live. Given recent history, and past standards, along with rising building costs, it is possible to have properties built costing R45 000 but it is far more difficult," he said.Architect and promotions and communications executive at the South African Institute of Architects, Zola Kgaka, said the institute, which is involved in low-cost housing projects, had given the ministry reasons why architects should be involved in the planning. In the past they were not part of the process. While Kgaka said providing a view on low-cost houses would be subjective, building a suitable dwelling at a cost of R55 000 was dependent on several factors. These included whether the entire amount was for the structure, or if the land costs were excluded. "Since low-cost homes are built in bulk, due to the economies of scale unit costs come down," she said.Kecia Rust, the housing finance theme co-ordinator at non-profit independent Finmark Trust, which aims to make financial markets work for the poor, said: "If the minister is knocking down houses and building new ones, you can build something with R55 000. You can't make the money bigger because we have a backlog of 2.2 million units in the country. "In 2004, the cabinet approved a new policy, known as Breaking New Ground. The emphasis of that policy was that we must build homes, not merely houses. The houses demolished by the minister were most likely RDP houses, built before 2004". Special advisor to Sexwale, Chris Vick, said a national audit task team appointed by the minister was both a punitive and a corrective measure. It would identify people in the public and private sectors who were involved in wrongdoing, and ensure they were brought to book. It would also identify loopholes in processes, and make recommendations on how to eliminate them. "This applies particularly to questions of quality. The task team is expected to come up with recommendations for ensuring that we avoid quality problems in the future, by outlining preventative measures that can and should be taken throughout the home construction phase."Vick said it was envisaged that the task team would make recommendations on ensuring that only qualified construction companies were awarded contracts, and would outline steps to enforce all the quality control measures involved in home construction.In addition, the Department of Human Settlements is increasing its capacity to monitor and evaluate the quality of home building by making more frequent visits to housing projects and working more closely with provincial and local government, where delivery takes place. He added that the National Home Builders' Registration Council was in the process of appointing building inspectors who would focus more directly on issues of quality, and monitor the roll-out of government home-building projects.
moladi - www.moladi.net
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