By June 2011, the formalisation of 206 informal settlements had been completed. The number of informal settlements was reduced from 2 700 in 2009 to 2 450 in 2011.
Cabinet approved the Comprehensive Housing Plan (CHP) for the Development of Integrated Sustainable Human Settlements (Breaking New Ground [BNG]) that aims, among other things, to eradicate informal settlements in South Africa in the shortest possible time.
The BNG incorporates principles such as:
- integrating subsidised, rental and bonded housing
- providing municipal engineering services at a higher level and being applied consistently throughout the township
- providing ancillary facilities such as schools clinics and commercial opportunities
- combining different housing densities and types,ranging from single-stand units to doublestorey units and row houses.
The CHP provides for programmes that promote the development of the entire residential property market, including the development of low-cost housing, medium-density accommodation and rental housing; stronger partnerships with the private sector; social infrastructure; and
amenities.
The plan also aims to change spatial settlement patterns by building spatially economical and socially integrated human settlements. The CHP is being implemented through informal settlement-upgrading pilot projects in each province. These projects provide for phased, areabased development, and emphasise community participation and social and economic development as an integral part of housing projects. The goal of upgrading all informal settlements by 2014/15 is aligned to the United Nation's (UN) millennium development goals (MDGs) to improve the lives of 100 million slum dwellers worldwide.
The CHP focuses on:
- accelerating housing delivery as a key strategy for poverty alleviation
- using housing provision as a major job-creation strategy
- ensuring that property can be accessed by all as an asset for wealth creation and empowerment
- leveraging growth in the economy, combating crime and promoting social cohesio
- using housing development to break down barriers between the First-Economy residential property boom and the Second-Economy slump
- using housing as an instrument for the development of sustainable human settlements in support of spatial restructuring
- diversifying housing products by emphasising rental stock.
As part of the CHP, government provides a 40-m2 house with two bedrooms; a separate bathroom with a toilet, shower and hand basin; a combined living area and kitchen with wash basin; and a ready-board electrical installation where electricity supply is available in the township, to qualifying households earning less than R3 500 a month.
The department developed and launched a number of instruments to guide the implementation of the comprehensive plan in all three spheres of government. These include the monitoring, evaluation and impact-assessment policy and implementation guidelines, and the operating system for the policy and guidelines. The department has also initiated a project-monitoring process to measure the performance of provincial housing departments against targets set in their business plans, to identify constraints and assist with addressing them swiftly.
Phase One of the Housing Demand Database has been completed, resulting in an integrated national database.
Progress made during 2011 included:
- Development on the N2 Gateway Project in the Western Cape being at different stages in each of the project areas. Considerable progress was made in providing bulk infrastructure, constructing houses, installing service connections to individual units and the handover of 7 887 houses by the end of 2011.
- The Zanemvula Housing Project that entails the upgrading of informal and formal settlements in the Soweto-on-Sea and Veeplaas areas, as well as greenfields housing developments in the areas of Chatty and Joe Slovo West in the Eastern Cape.
- 4 300 sites and 800 units in Duncan Village in the Eastern Cape.
- The initiation of the Lerato Park Housing Project in the Northern Cape.
- 5 500 units in the Khutsong Resettlement Project in Gauteng.
- Infrastructure and housing in the Klarinet Housing Project in Mpumalanga.
- The Emnambithi Urban Renewal Project in KwaZulu-Natal.
- 6 776 units in Grassland in the Free State.
- 341 units of the Morgan's Village III Affordable Housing Project in Mitchell's Plain, Cape Town.
- The Informal Settlement Upgrade Programme in Nelson Mandela, Joe Slovo, Phola Park and Chris Hani informal settlements and Ngangelizwe in the Eastern Cape. Phase One of this project will focus on the provision of interim services and planning for 6 600 units.
- Agreement to unblock eight housing development projects valued at over R85,7 million was reached between the North West Provincial Government and the Mahikeng Local Municipality for the construction of 2 481 housing units, including the building of 200 rental housing units.
- In total, 26 328 housing units have been completed, benefiting some 118 476 individuals in the Mabaso RHP, in KwaZulu-Natal.
- A housing project in Qolweni, Gaatjie, Bossiesgif and Pinetree in the southern Cape created denser settlement for people in the area. The high-density units are the first of their kind in the southern Cape. Higher-density settlements fulfil one of the department's strategic objectives of maximum use of resources and are important in creating integrated and sustainable settlements. The project will be developed in four phases, with Phase One (265 units) already completed. On completion it will consist of 1 420 units.
- Several mixed housing projects such as Lehae, Olieventhoutbosch, Lufhereng, Cosmos City, Chief Mogale and Chief Albert Luthuli, to relocate people from informal settlements, are being built in Gauteng.
Other housing programmes
Get more information from the Department of Human Settlements.
