October 3, 2006
By Ndaba Dlamini
DESPITE facing huge challenges, with more than 300 000 people filling the list for homes, the City of Johannesburg is on track to provide affordable and adequate housing for its residents.
This was revealed by Executive Mayor Amos Masondo during celebrations to mark World Habitat Day on Monday, 2 October in Kliptown. Masondo said migration to the city was continuing, causing informal settlements to grow.
"The world is increasingly becoming urban and people are moving into towns and cities in greater numbers than before. This has resulted in migration to informal settlements - 'the urbanisation of poverty' - where people live in dire poverty. This reality is a challenge that the government and the community have to grapple with."
Masondo said it was the first time that the City had held an event to celebrate World Habitat Day, a day set aside by the United Nations (UN) for the world to reflect on the state of human settlements, the basic right to adequate shelter, and to remind the world of its collective responsibility for the future of the human habitat.
This year's theme was Cities, magnets of hope. It was chosen by the UN to remind people that the world was witnessing the greatest migration of people into towns and cities in its history. Masondo said it was apt that the event was held in Kliptown, one of the oldest townships in Johannesburg.
"This is where our people met about 50 years ago to draft the Freedom Charter, a vision which constituted minimum demands by the black people of South Africa. Key to this vision are clauses that clarify the people's right to adequate and sustainable housing as a basic right. This event is also to showcase the innovative housing and the Kliptown housing projects."
Since Johannesburg is a centre of diversity and cultural change, the city will continue to attract people. Masondo explained that 253 269 households lived in informal settlements and 50 000 families lived in hostels.
The beneficiaries of new homes: Francisco Mataki, Macia Radebe, Maria Khabonina, Violet Phungwane and Brian Molelo receive the door keys
"The City is in the process of developing 100 000 affordable housing units in the next five years. This will require extensive input of resources but we are tackling the challenge head on. The Kliptown housing project alone is providing 7 000 housing units. Approximately 478 social housing units and 700 RDP houses have been built and occupied by beneficiaries in the township. The residents of Kliptown are also benefiting from a fencing project as part of the restoration of their dignity."
City accommodation
However, the Kliptown projects were not the only ones benefiting Joburg's residents. Europa House in the inner city, the multi-million rand Cosmo City project and the Lehae housing project would provide much-needed accommodation for those in need of adequate houses, Masondo said.
"The [City's] innovative housing pilot project is also expected to churn out an initial 20 houses and by the end of 2007, 200 innovative technology housing units would have been completed."
The innovative technology housing pilot project is also in Kliptown. A representative for United Nations World Habitat Day in South Africa, Pinky Vilakazi, read a message from the UN secretary-general, Kofi Annan, who said a third of the world's population now lived in towns and cities, and that number was expected to double over the next 30 years.
"People are going for the bright lights of the city but cities can also be places of considerable despair," the message read. "Cities are having trouble accommodating new migrants but all involved must work together in partnership to make sure all people have adequate housing."
The national department of housing, represented by Phillip Chauke, said there were 2,3 million people on South Africa's housing list and, at present, 200 000 houses were being built each year. "However, there is a need to double the rate of delivery in order to meet the target of housing for all by 2014," he said.
Guests at the function were shown a video documenting the work achieved by the City's housing department. Presenting the video, the executive director in the department, Uhuru Nene, said the biggest challenge facing the department and the City was providing accommodation and at the same time coming up with diverse housing options. The department's programme needed to deal with all these requirements.
At the end of the function, beneficiaries of the Kliptown innovative technology housing project were given keys to their new houses. One of the beneficiaries, 88-year-old Maria Khabonina, was ecstatic when she got a house after many years spent living in a shack in Kliptown.
"I would like to thank the mayor for giving me this precious gift," said the frail-looking granny as she received the keys to her new house from Masondo.
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