March 14, 2005
By Ndaba Dlamini
THE DAYS are numbered for Johannesburg's informal settlements: the City, in partnership with the Gauteng department of housing, is pulling out all the stops to eradicate squatter camps.
Nomvula Mokonyane, the MEC for housing, said that in the 2005/2006 financial year, 6 137 housing stands in Johannesburg north and 18 996 housing stands in Johannesburg south would be developed to provide adequate affordable housing to thousands of families living in backyard shacks and informal settlements.
"Our main focus is to continue making sure that we have a sustainable housing and human settlement process to achieve housing with secure tenure, within a safe and healthy environment, and the development of viable communities for all people. By June 2005, the registration process of informal settlements will be completed and the data gathered will be used for planning purposes," Mokonyane said.
In 2004 the City approved a consolidated list of 189 informal settlements and housing projects within its boundaries. It planned to provide all informal settlements with essential facilities like roads, streetlights and community centres by 2007. Where this was impossible, new townships would be established.
Kliptown and Alexandra, two of Johannesburg's oldest townships, are being given a new lease of life as the number of backyard shacks is decreased and new houses are built. Backyard shacks crowd the two areas and in most cases the shacks completely encase the original formal houses, making them look like shanty towns.
Construction of 1 400 units in Kliptown - to be completed by the end of May 2005 - was on course, said Mokonyane. Beneficiaries would come from the surrounding townships, such as Orlando, Pimville and Klipspruit.
In Kliptown, 5 700 Reconstruction and Development Programme houses would be constructed in the "next few years". The housing programme is part of the Kliptown Development Project, which aims to move the Kliptown community to decent, affordable housing. There are 38 000 to 45 000 people living in Kliptown, the majority of whom will get proper housing.
Top Twenty Townships Programme
Backyard shacks are a common eyesore in most townships in Johannesburg. In March 2005 Mokonyane launched the Top Twenty Townships Programme in Orlando, Soweto, in an effort to "provide housing opportunities to communities and families that are currently renting backyard shacks".
Among other aims, the programme is meant "to provide alternative housing solutions to backyard shack tenants, affordable rental accommodation to those who cannot afford market-related rentals, and to assist in formalisation of rental agreements between the landlords and the tenants and, where possible, to eradicate the backyard shacks".
Mokonyane said, "This is a continuing effort to upgrade infrastructure and improve the quality of life of our people, particularly in historically black townships."
In Alexandra, 1 403 houses in Extension 7 had been planned and construction would start in April 2005. The project was expected to be completed by December 2005, Mokonyane said. Also, several pockets of land had been identified for housing for Alexandra residents, in line with promoting mixed income developments.
Cosmo City
By the end of March 2005, 250 houses and 1 400 stands are expected at the Cosmo City Project, an integrated housing development scheme in the north of Johannesburg.
Cosmo City is part of the City's drive to eradicate informal settlements by 2008 and provide housing to city dwellers. It should provide 12 500 housing units by the end of 2007. Preference will be given to residents from the nearby Zevenfontein, Zandspruit and River Bend informal settlements.
"Our target for the 2005/2006 financial year is to complete 2 000 serviced stands with water and sewer reticulation, 2 000 stands with road and stormwater drainage, 2 800 fully subsidised houses and 850 credit-linked and bonded houses," Mokonyane said.
More than 6 000 families living in the informal settlements of Dlamini, Eikenhof and Thembelihle, south of Johannesburg, will have proper housing by the end of 2006. The City identified communities there for relocation to Vlakfontein West, a "greenfield" housing project.
Smaller communities were also earmarked for relocation, namely those in Old Vista in Region 6, Mshenguville, Orlando East, Orlando Park, St Mary's in Region 10, and Kapok in Region 11. The three-year project, a joint venture between the City and the Gauteng department of housing, will cost R186-million.
Yet another effort expected to alleviate the housing blues in the city is the Brickfields Housing Project. It will boast 1 400 units, built at a cost of R98-million. The first phase is expected to be completed by the end of March 2005, with 616 units ready for occupation. The second phase, the construction of 1 200 units, began in February and will be completed in 2006.
Other housing projects in Johannesburg are being undertaken in Diepsloot, Ivory Park, Zandspruit, Dobsonville, Doornkop, Tshepisong and Orange Farm.
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