The Western Cape Government Minister of Human Settlements, Bonginkosi Madikizela, will present the expectations for the provision of basic services in the Western Cape at the Departments Basic Services Workshop on 22 May 2012.
All press are invited to attend the workshop, which will enable a clearer understanding of the strategy and issues around basic services delivery. A program is attached.
The department has committed to ensuring that everyone in the Western Cape has access to basic services by 31 March 2014, according to the national minimum standards for access to basic services.
The department is also introducing an incremental approach to housing development. With the increasing cost of building houses and a limited budget, and a projected capacity of 15 000 top structures in the 2012/13 financial year, the department does not have the resources to quickly alleviate the need of around 500 000 housing opportunities in the Western Cape. This strategy is in alignment with National Outcome 8 for human settlements delivery.
A strategic decision has been taken to 'do less for more'. Instead of providing relatively few people with a top structure whilst everyone else waits in informal settlements, often without any access to basic services, the department will first ensure that people have access to basic services, and then a serviced site, and then finally a top structure. This staged approach is known as the incremental approach to housing development.
Top structures will still be provided at a later stage, instead of being automatically built once a site has been serviced. People will be encouraged to move onto serviced sites with access to basic services and provide their own top structures while waiting for their top structure.
The workshop will consist of presentations of a case study of incremental development, messages by Minister Madikizela and the Head of Department, Mr Mbulelo Tshangana, a presentation on the access to basic services program, as well as a panel discussion and way forward.
Date: 22 May 2012
Time: Registration 08h00, opening at 09h00.
Venue: Fire and Ice Hotel, Bree Street, Cape Town.
For media enquiries:
Bruce Oom (Spokesman for Minister Bonginkosi Madikizela)
Cell : 072 4655 177
Tel: 021 483 6622
Fax: 021 483 3888
