November 1, 2005
By Tshepiso Seopa
THERE are 124 informal settlements in Johannesburg, home to 157 903 families. Of these, 56 may be formalised into low cost houses and some will be eradicated.
This is according to MEC for Housing Nomvula Mokonyane, who hosted a report back on the registration of informal settlements in Johannesburg at the end of October.
Most of these informal settlements were established early in 1994, and are built on private land; some have been established on public land.
The registration is part of the government's plan to eradicate informal settlements by 2014. It began in October 2004, and by August 2005 a total of 405 settlements across Gauteng had been visited.
Plans have been made to provide all informal settlements with essential facilities like roads and streetlights. Where this is unworkable, new townships will be established.
Once a shack owner has been registered, his or her details and particulars, including household income, are captured on a database. The name is then put on the housing waiting list.
During this registration drive, 492 people were employed by the department in an internship-learnership programme. Most of them were from the informal settlements and were unemployed. The training and skills transfer should help them get work in future.
Mokonyane visited various informal settlements during the registration. Community radio stations were used to get the message across to people to be registered.
Service providers and stakeholders attended the report back. Sharon Peters, the assistant director of beneficiary support and demand database, said that in Johannesburg 47 852 structures were found to be locked. Notices were left instructing the occupants to report to the nearest municipal offices for registration.
She said the registering team faced a number of challenges, such as having to return to homes three or more times, and still not meeting the shack owners. Members were also chased by dogs.
Mokonyane said that at the opening of the provincial legislature, the premier outlined his government's Growth and Development Strategy as a guide to attaining integrated and sustainable growth and development.
"The premier further asserted that making Gauteng globally competitive will place us in a position to achieve an economic growth rate of 8 percent.
"Gauteng is a part of a global community and therefore it can no longer afford to operate in a manner that undermines its competitive edge within the global arena.
"What this means to all folks is that we should shun regressive tendencies that perpetuate what we may call disjointed, desperate and isolated municipal-development plan syndrome; let us bring an end to unnecessary counter-productive competition among ourselves as government agencies," she said.
However, Mokonyane warned that the registration process would be a futile exercise if municipalities did not play their parts and failed to enforce by-laws.
"I am excited yet anxious about the municipalities' commitment and credibility. If you have a settlement starting today then your credibility as local government is at risk."
Because locked shacks created a backlog in registration and formalisation, Mokonyane said shacks should be torn down three months after being served with demolition notices.
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