November 29, 2007
By Lucille Davie
THE City refuses to accept that informal settlements are here to stay, says Strike Ralegoma, the mayoral committee member for housing.
Ralegoma says there are 182 informal settlements around the city, with some 350 000 people living in shacks. An informal settlement is an illegal area of habitation where there is no plan of how streets will run, no electricity, sewage or water services, and the area hasn't been registered formally.
Ralegoma considers the eradication of informal settlements one of the major challenges of his portfolio. "Over time, we think we will reach a situation where there is not a shack in Joburg - people will live in decent structures."
The City has set itself the target of eliminating informal settlements by 2014, and Ralegoma says he is "quite confident" that this target will be reached.
Formalising settlements involves registering the properties, naming streets, and putting in services. Settlement dwellers will be given the land on which their dwelling has been erected, along with title deeds, thus formalising their ownership. Examples of formal settlements are Orange Farm and Diepsloot.
The City has made this goal more manageable by means of a five-year plan, the Housing Master Plan. It ensures that all informal settlements will be formalised, and that hostels, originally created for single, migrant men, will be upgraded and transformed into family units.
The challenge within the inner city is the illegal occupation of buildings. In its efforts to clear these buildings, the council has prepared 1 000 temporary emergency units for occupation.
Soweto title deeds
Soweto, first settled at Kliptown in 1903, has long been a place where blacks have stayed without security of tenure. In recent years that has been changed.
A Joshco development in Kliptown
Ralegoma says that in the four years he has had the housing portfolio he has seen some 80 percent of Soweto residents receive title deeds for their properties. "Most stand-alone houses have now received their title deeds."
The process was slow to begin with, but now that it is working well, he expects it to move much faster.
Cosmo City
But what he is most proud of is the establishment of Cosmo City, a R2-billion mixed income development of some 12 000 units northwest of the CBD. "It provides for poor and rich, and for rental accommodation. It is an ideal mixed development, with nearby economic opportunities," he says.
Although far from the Joburg CBD, Ralegoma says new developments don't necessarily have to be "referenced to the CBD", but can tie in with major economic developments in the immediate area. Developments like Cosmo City ensure that the poor also stay in well-located land, and are not relegated to the edges of economically active areas.
"South Africa is the only country that is ensuring that the poorest of the poor have access to land, and are assisted to get houses."
Cosmos City provides four different types of housing:
- 5 000 fully subsidised units of 32m², available for those earning less than R1 500 a month;
- 3 000 partially subsidised units of 60m²;
- 3 300 units for sale; and
- 1 000 flats for rent.
The Cosmo city development is managed by Codevco, a partnership between Basil Read, one of the country's oldest construction companies, and Kopano ke Matla, a Cosatu trust.
100 000 houses
The City has set itself the goal of completing 100 000 houses by 2011, the year this administration's term in office ends. In the past year, 14 000 houses have been built. The current year's target is 22 600, of which 6 000 have been built. But Ralegoma is confident that this target will be reached. "We do the planning, then catch up."
Housing executive director Uhuru Nene estimates that the city needs some 450 000 housing units, including about 70 000 in the inner city.
Private developers, the province and Joshco, the Johannesburg Social Housing Company, are involved in these projects. Joshco was established in 2003 to manage the City's housing stock, and develop affordable social housing.
Two new developments, Lehae and Pennyville, are at present being allocated to people on the waiting list. Both areas are well located – close to railway stations or main roads, says Ralegoma.
Lehae, in the southwestern quadrant of the intersection of the Golden Highway and the R554 Eikenhof/Lenasia Road, will provide 6 700 housing units, while Pennyville, in the New Canada area west of the CBD, will provide 2 800 units.
Other areas where houses have been built are Golden Triangle, Bram Fischerville, Diepsloot, Doornkop and Alexandra.
Born in Alexandra
Ralegoma was born in Alexandra, and was involved in the struggle for two decades, starting when he joined the Soweto Youth Congress in the 1980s. He served in the ANC underground structures, and was responsible for setting up youth structures and street committees.
He was a full-time organiser for the Soweto Civic Association, the organisation that spearheaded the rent boycotts of the 1980s, which was one of the tactics used in the downfall of the apartheid government. He was one of many co-ordinators of the United Democratic Front area committees.
He was detained for several months in 1986, and in 1987 he was detained without trial for two years. Ralegoma says it is "sheer luck" he never went to Robben Island.
He says he is more mature now because of these experiences. "We fought for an ideal which we are currently implementing with the challenges that it has. We hope we are making a difference for future generations. We hope an idea we stood for is being realised."
The struggle interrupted what he would have become, which he says is most likely to have been a teacher, probably of maths and physics, his favourite school subjects.
He couldn't see himself living in any other city, he says. "There is not something like Joburg, particularly Soweto, where I still stay. It is its own, unique place. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else except by assignment by the ANC."
Ralegoma says he soaks up his home city by watching soccer, cricket and gymnastics. He likes going to listen to classical music with his family. "I missed Swan Lake, but will be going to The Nutcracker."
He enjoys taking his family to the zoo, or shopping at Fourways or Northgate malls.
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