1 August 2007
For ten families living in one of the most waterlogged informal settlements
in Cape Town the cold front anticipated later this week could be the last they
must endure in a flooded-out shack.
The ten families have been chosen by the New Rest community as the
beneficiaries of houses being built by women for women to commemorate the 51st
anniversary of the Women's March to the Union Buildings in 1956.
The new homeowners will include elderly and disabled women, and those
looking after orphans and/or vulnerable children.
New Rest, between Gugulethu and the N2 Highway, is the site for Women's
Build 2007. Women's Build is an annual initiative of the national Department of
Housing to promote partnerships and boost women in the construction sector.
This year's Women's Build is jointly hosted by the department and
Thubelisha, the state housing developer; with their key partners, South African
Women in Construction (Sawic), the National Home Builders Registration Council
and the Western Cape Department of Local Government and Housing. Event sponsors
include Standard Bank, M5 Construction and BP Gypsum.
Two hundred women volunteers, and a few men, will help build 10 houses in
the nine days leading up to Women's Day on 9 August. The 10 houses are part of
the next phase of 25 houses that will contribute to an eventual total of 1 155
houses planned to convert the 17 year old settlement from a slum into a
suburb.
Build volunteers, including women from the New Rest community, will work
under the supervision of professional contractors and team leaders, with Sawic
members playing a leading role in their guidance and training.
The New Rest community is poor but cohesive. It is providing its own answers
to the challenging reality that formal housing takes more space than informal
housing, meaning not everyone can be accommodated in a house where their shack
used to be. At New Rest residents who have lived there longest are being
accommodated first, with the remainder agreeing to move to Delft.
The prototype New Rest homes conform to the improved housing subsidy
standard: They are 40 square meter structures that contain two bedrooms, open
plan kitchen/living room, bathroom, water and electricity, and given free to
people qualifying for subsidies. They replace the old 27 metre square, single
bedroom Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) standard.
New Rest is one of the building sites for the N2 Gateway Pilot Project, the
pioneering national housing initiative to test government's policy of building
integrated and sustainable communities - not just houses.
The essence of the new policy is that one size does not fit all. Some people
presently forced to live in backyards or shacks can afford to buy, and others
would prefer to rent. Many qualify for the national housing subsidy, which
means they qualify to receive a free house.
The N2 Gateway Pilot Project is the biggest housing project yet undertaken
by government. It will see the development of approximately 30 000 dignified
dwellings at sites along a 30 kilometre stretch of the N2, from District Six to
Joe Slovo, Netreg, New Rest and Boystown to Delft.
The South African Government has built 2,4 million RDP homes since 1994,
housing more than nine million people. Only the Chinese and Indian governments
have built more houses in this period.
The national theme for Women's Month is: 'Emancipation, empowerment,
equality and eradication of poverty now!'
For more information:
Monwabisi Maclean
Cell: 082 882 2962
Prince Xhanti Sigcawu
Cell: 082 883 9739
Issued by: Department of Housing
1 August 2007
Source: Department of Housing (http://www.housing.gov.za)
