Millions of South Africans still live in shacks

'Some things were better under apartheid'



Millions of South Africans still live in shacks
When apartheid was dismantled in South Africa, many expected the lives of its black population would improve but promises of land distribution and new homes have not been fulfilled, as Hugh Sykes discovered.
In a community of shacks on a hillside near Johannesburg, a man complained to me:
"We didn't like apartheid, but some things were better under apartheid than they are now."
In a community of shacks on a hillside near Durban, a man complained to me:
"Life here under apartheid was bad, but now it is more bad."
I felt slightly unsettled hearing this.
Shack dwellers have to go out to public stand-pipes to fill up containers with drinking water
It seemed like questioning a sacred belief - that apartheid was an unmitigated, 100% evil system.
But there is less idolatry here now, as it dawns on most people that the new South Africa is still scarred by extreme poverty and high unemployment.
No paradise
Of course, Nelson Mandela continues to be lauded as the hero of the liberation of black South Africans from the oppressions of apartheid.

Building houses for all under one programme proved too costly
But he is also being criticised for changing the direction of the South African economy from active state intervention to neo-liberal, free-market economics.
During his presidency, the government switched from RDP - the interventionist Reconstruction and Development Programme - to Gear, which stands for Growth, Employment And Redistribution.
RDP promised paradise - clean water, mains drainage, land redistribution and a million homes - all in five years.
But paradise did not come. The economy of South Africa simply could not bear the cost.
So the finance system switched to Gear.
Part of the thinking was that it would help to develop a substantial black middle class, whose taxes would then trickle down to the poor.
The middle class did develop, but the problem with trickle-down is that it is just that - a trickle.
Houses 'an insult'
Millions of South Africans still live in shacks.

The ANC government now is simply an extension of the apartheid government
"Bricks" Mokolo, former ANC activist
Rain and dust get in, there is no security against burglars and shack dwellers have to go out to public stand-pipes to fill up containers with drinking water.
And there is no proper lighting which - quite apart from the obvious inconveniences - makes it very hard for children to get their homework done on dark winter evenings.
A former African National Congress activist, "Bricks" Mokolo, told me it is still very hard to criticise the government here.
He says everybody has been, as he put it, "made to love the ANC, made to love Nelson Mandela" and "made to feel small" if they dare to complain.
Mr Mokolo tells me angrily: "I didn't wait for Nelson Mandela. I too fought for my freedom. I was tortured in an apartheid jail."
He was tortured so brutally that prison officers thought he was dead. After leaving him in a mortuary fridge overnight, they dumped what they thought was his dead body in a field.
Mr Mokolo says that housing, especially, was better under apartheid than it is now.
He calls the new houses that are being built all over the country an insult because they are significantly smaller than the old matchbox homes that the apartheid government built in the townships.
"The ANC government now," he insists, "is simply an extension of the apartheid government. There's still separate development," he goes on, "there are still townships, 20 years after liberation."
His conclusion: "There were places for blacks in those days. Now they are the same places. They've just changed the word. They've changed black, to poor."

Metro has R335m shortfall for housing projects

The Herald Online

Metro has R335m shortfall for housing projects2009/08/26 POLITICAL EDITOR

NELSON Mandela Bay has a shortfall of R335-million for the housing projects it wishes to implement in the current financial year, the housing and land committee was told yesterday.
Briefing the committee on the performance of the past financial year and looking ahead, executive director Seth Maqetuka said the metro had received R376-million but needed R711-million with the provincial department having requested motivation for the projects it wished to pursue and “realistic cash flows for the additional funding”.
Maqetuka said the metro had been promised additional funds that would come from the local authorities, whose performance to date had “not been very positive”.
He said the target for the past financial year ending in June had been 5 000 units and the directorate had delivered 8301.
With regard to the accreditation process, Maqetuka said the metro had level two and would submit a business plan by the end of next month.
An assessment of the municipality’s compliance with level one would be conducted by the province on September 9.
As far as social housing was concerned that sought to address apartheid residential patterns, Maqetuka said four land parcels had been identified and two social housing partners identified. Pipeline projects included the Walmer Gold site, Mount Croix and John Street, Uitenhage.
He said a workshop of social housing would be held on Friday when details of all projects would be released.
The committee was also told yesterday that informal settlements “will remain a reality for decades”.
A lengthy presentation on the subject listing the challenges in areas such as land invasions did not, however, satisfy some councillors.
Andile Mfunda (ANC) said he did not want to know about operational issues and administrative details but “time- frames in terms of which the people in shacks will be relocated. We want a programme of action”.
Mfunda warned that shacks were “a big issue”, adding that by 2014 “we must have dealt with shacks not only here but in the whole of South Africa”.
The committee was told that currently there were 105 informal settlements in the metro occupied by about 26950 households, of which 95 were on municipal land and 10 on private land. Of these, 13950 will have houses built where they are with the balance being relocated.
The housing backlog currently stands at 80 000.
With regard to land invasions, the committee was informed that during the three months to June this year, the land invasion sub-directorate patrolled 117 areas across all wards seven days a week.
During this period 963 illegal structures were demolished in Schauderville, Booysen Park, Tiryville, Kleinskool, Motherwell and KwaNobuhle.
In addition, 12 house invasion cases were investigated at Langa, Chatty, Walmer and Motherwell.
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